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THE PHILOSOPHY 

OF 

THE HUMAN VOICE: 

EMBRACING ITS 

PHYSIOLOGICAL HISTORY; 

TOGETHER WITH A 

SYSTEM OF PRINCIPLES, 

BY WHICH 

CRITICISM IN THE ART OF ELOCUTION 

MAY BE RENDERED INTELLIGIBLE, 

ADD 

INSTRUCTION, DEFINITE AND COMPREHENSIVE. 



TO WHICH13 ADDED , 

A BRIEF ANALYSIS 

OF 

£oug ants Recitative, 

BY JAMES RUSH, M. D. 




SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED. \ 



PHILADELPHIA: 

GKIGG & ELLIOTT, 9 NORTH FOURTH STREET. 
1833. 






•ov/ 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by 
James Rush, M. D., in the clerk's office of the District Court of the 
eastern district of Pennsylvania. 



'?s-ff 



Printed by J. Crissy & G. Goodman, 4, Minor etreet. 



's, 



CONTENTS 



Page 

INTRODUCTION, . 13 
SECTION I. Of the General Divisions of Vocal Sound, with a more 

particular account of its Pitch, 31 

II. Of the Radical and Vanishing movement of the 

Voice; and its different forms in Speech, Song and 

Recitative, 44 

III. Of the Elementary Sounds of the English Language; 

with their relations to the Radical and Vanishing 

movement, 52 

IV. Of the Influence of the Concrete Movement, in the 

production of the various phenomena of Syllables, 65 

V. Of the Causative Mechanism of the Voice, in relation 

to its different dualities, 76 

VI. Of the Melody of Speech; together with an inquiry 

how far the terms Key and Modulation are appli- 
cable to it, 99 

VII . Of the Expression of Speech, 117 

VIII. Of the duality or Kind of Voice, 121 

IX. Of the Time of the Voice, 122 
. X. Of the Expression of Melody, 143 

XI. Of the Intonation at Pauses, 147 

XII. Of the Grouping of Speech, 155 

XIII. Of the Interval of the Octave, 162 

XIV. Of the Interval of the Fifth, 165 
XV Of the Interval of the Third, 166 

XVI. Of the Intonation of Interrogative Sentences, 169 

XVII. Of the Interval of the Second, 184 



IV 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION XVIII. 



XIX. 



Of the Interval of the Semitone; and of the Chro- 
matic Melody founded thereon, 188 
Of the Downward Radical and Vanishing Move- 



ment, 197 

XX. Of the Downward Octave, 201 

XXI. Of the Downward Fifth, 202 

XXII. Of the Downward Third, 205 

XXIII. Of the Downward Second and Semitone, 209 

XXIV. Of the Wave of the Voice, 210 

XXV. Of the Equal- Wave of the Octave, 217 

XXVI. Of the Equal-Wave of the Fifth, 218 

XXVII. Of the Equal-Wave of the Third, 220 

XXVIII. Of the Equal-Wave of the Second, 221 

XXIX. Of the Equal- Wave of the Semitone, 224 

XXX. Of the Wave of Unequal Intervals, 226 

XXXI. Of the Intonation of Exclamatory Sentences. 233 

XXXII. Of the Tremor of the Voice, 243 

XXXIII. Of Force of Voice, 252 

XXXIV. Of the Radical Stress, 254 

XXXV. Of the Median Stress, 259 

XXXVI. Of the Vanishing Stress, 262 

XXXVII. Of the Compound Stress, 265 
XXXVIII.Of the Thorough Stress, 266 
XXXIX. Of the Loud Concrete, 267 
XL, Of the Time of the Concrete, 268 
XLI. Of the Aspiration, 269 
XLII. Of the Emphatic Vocule, 273 
XLIII. Of the Guttural Emphasis, 275 
XLIV. Of Accent, 276 
XLV. Of Emphasis, 282 

Of the Radical Emphasis, 283 

Of the Median Emphasis, 284 

Of the Vanishing Emphasis, 285 

Of the Compound Emphasis, 286 

Of the Thorough Emphasis, 287 

Of the Aspirated Emphasis, ib. 

Of the Emphatic Vocule, 288 

Of the Guttural Emphasis, 289 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION XLV. Of the Temporal Emphasis, 289 

Of the Emphasis of Pitch, 291 

Of the Emphasis of the Octave, 292 

Of the Emphasis of the Fifth, 294 

Of the Emphasis of the Third, 296 

Of the Emphasis of the Semitone, 297 

Of the Downward Concrete, 298 

Of the Downward Octave, 300 

Of the Downward Fifth, 301 

Of the Downward Third, 302 

Of the Emphasis of the Wave, 304 

Of the Equal-Single Wave of the Octave, 305 

Of the Equal-Single Wave of the Fifth, ib. 

Of the Unequal-Single Wave, 306 

Of the Emphasis of the Tremor, 307 

A Recapitulating View of Emphasis, 309 

XLVI. Of the Drift of the Voice, 317 

Of the Diatonic Drift, 318 

Of the Drift of the Semitone, 319 

Of the Drift of the Downward Vanish, ib. 

Of the Drift of the Wave of the Second, ib. 

Of the Drift of the Wave of the Semitone, ib. 

Of the Drift of Quantity, 320 

Of the Drift of Radical Stress, ib. 

Of the Drift of Median Stress, ib. 

Of the Drift of Vanishing Stress, ib. 

Of the Drift of Force, ib. 

The Partial Drift of the Tremor, 321 

The Partial Drift of the Aspiration, ib. 

The Partial Drift of the Guttural Emphasis, ib. 

Of the Drift of Interrogation, ib. 
Of the Partial Drift of the Phrases of Melody, ib. 

XL VII. Of the Vocal Signs of the Passions, 324 
Of the Passions or Emotions indicated, 

By Feebleness of Voice, 332 

By Loudness of Voice, 333 

By Quickness of Voice, 334 

By Slowness of Voice, ib. 



VI 

SECTION XL VII. 



XLV1II. 



XLIX. 
L. 



CONTENTS. 

By duality of Voice, 334 

By the Semitone, ib. 

By the Second or Tone, 335 

By the Rising Third, Fifth and Octave, ib. 

By the Downward Third, Fifth and Octave, 336 

By the Wave of the Semitone, ib. 

By the Wave of the Second, 337 
By the Waves of the Third, Fifth and Octave, ib. 

By the Radical Stress, ib. 

By the Median Stress, 338 

By the Vanishing Stress, ib. 

By the Compound Stress, ib. 
By the Tremor of the Second and higher Intervals, 339 

By the Tremor of the Semitone, ib. 

By the Aspiration, ib. 

By the Guttural Emphasis, 340 

By the Emphatic Vocule, ib. 

By the Broken Melody, ib. 

Of the Mode of Instruction in Elocution, 344 

Of Practice on the Alphabetic Elements, 347 

Of Practice on the Time of Elements, 350 

Of Practice on the Vanishing Movement, 351 

Of Practice on Force, 352 

Of Practice on Stress, 353 

Of Practice on Pitch, ib. 

Of Practice on Melody, 355 

Of Practice on the Cadence, ib. 

Of Practice on the Tremor, 356 

Of Practice on the duality of Voice, ib. 

Of Practice in Rapidity of Speech, 358 

Of the Rythmus of Speech, 364 

Of the Faults of Readers, 372 

Of Faults in duality, 380 

Of Faults in Time, ib. 

Of Faults in Force, 381 

Of Faults in Pitch, 383 

ib. 

ib. 



Of Faults 



in the Concrete Movement, 



Of Faults in the Semitone, 



CONTENTS. V" 

SECTION L. Of Faults in the Second, 384 

Of Faults in the Melody of Speech, 385 

First Fault in Melody, 386 

Second Fault in Melody, 387 

Third Fault in Melody, ib. 

Fourth Fault in Melody, 388 

Fifth Fault in Melody, 389 

Sixth Fault in Melody, ib. 

Seventh Fault in Melody, 390 

Of Faults in the Cadence, 393 

Of Faults in the Third, 395 

Of Faults in the Fifth, ib. 

Of Faults in the Downward Movement, 396 

Of Faults in the Discrete Movement, ib. 

Of Faults in the Wave, 397 

Of Faults in the Melody of the Pause, 398 

Of Faults in Drift, ib. 

Of Monotony of Voice, 400 

Of Ranting in Speech, 401 

Of Affectation in Speech, ib. 

Of Mouthing in Speech, ib. 

Conclusion. 402 

A Brief Analysis of Song and Recitative, 409 

Of Song, 410 

Of Recitative, 426 



ERRATA. 

Page 31, line 27, for fixed to, read to fixed. 

77, 6, these, those. 

83, 3, »-g, ng. 

179, 11, an-ces-tors. an-ces-loi'3 1 

342, 37, their vocal, i he vocal. 



PREFACE 



TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



More than six years ago I offered the manuscript of the fol- 
lowing work to the then principal bookseller of this city. En- 
gagements which promised to be more lucrative obliged him to 
decline the publication. The result has shown, that with his 
instrumentalities of trade he might have made a profitable sale 
of it; especially as, with my motives in authorship, I would 
have freely given the whole right of the edition to him. I 
made no second offer of the manuscript to any other; for as it 
had been rejected by the foremost publishing patron of Ame- 
rican works, I deprecated the influence of his example against 
me. Thus the first step of my authorship was unfortunate; 
and as in these days of anxious benevolence, a very few mis- 
fortunes are sure to bring down contempt, — to save further ill 
luck, I printed it myself: and subsequently found an indivi- 
dual not unwilling to interest himself in disposing of it. 

I remember one of the objections to publishing the ' Phi- 
losophy of the Human Voice' was — 'its not being suited to 
this country? I know well that the higher views of science 
and taste, and all originality in an individual, as being the 
minimum of a minority, where nothing is undertaken but 
through numbers and linked opinions, — are considered as con- 
B 



X PREFACE. 

trary to the popular spirit of our institutions: yet upon this 
very belief I offered that work to the public; hoping by the 
diffusion of its principles, in due season to suit the country to 
it; and thus instead of being a present time server, on full but 
precarious wages, to endeavour to be the unhired server of an 
enlightened and grateful futurity. 

With here and there an exception, the scoffers at this work 
have been those eternal enemies of improvement, — the Place- 
men of Learning. Supposing however that, through the influ- 
ence of knowledge made light and popular and cheap, the arts 
are not now so far downward as to create despair of any suc- 
cessful efforts by a new one, before their intire decay and fu- 
ture revival, — I would say to many of those who hold the places 
and draw the profits of science, that if they will but continue 
to sheathe their opposition in their feigned contempt, the first 
humble apostles of this work may, by a gradual rise to those 
places and profits, see their own enlarged designs of instruction, 
in the course of half a century completed. 

There are now several teachers and numerous friends of the 
system throughout the United States. Dr. Barber, an English 
physician, who had devoted himself to the study of elocution, 
and who came to Philadelphia about the period of the publica- 
tion of the ' Philosophy of the human voice,' was the first 
to adopt its principles, and to defend them against the double 
operations of doubt and sneer, by an explanatory and illustra- 
tive course of lectures. Yale College, at New Haven, was ear- 
ly favorable to the system. But the University of Canv 
bridge, by the appointment of Dr. Barber to its department of 
Elocution, was the first chartered institution of science that 
gave an influential and responsible approbation of the work. 

This work furnishes, upon analysis, a system of principles 
for an art that heretofore has been way wardly directed by in- 
dividual instinct or caprice: all therefore who design to teach 



PREFACE. XI 

the art of reading must sooner or later adopt it. Will the in- 
fluential instructors of Philadelphia be the last? If this city- 
were not the place of my birth and residence, 1 would take 
upon me to answer — No. 

The objections first made to * the Philosophy of the human 
voice' were against its utility; now the cry among the learned 
is, that it is too difficult. Too difficult! Why, all new 
things are difficult; and if the scholastic pretender knows not 
this, let the annals of the trades instruct him. Just one cen- 
tury has elapsed since that common material of furniture — 
mahogany, was first known in England. It is recorded that 
Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician of that period, had a 
brother, a West India captain, who took over to London some 
planks of this wood, as ballast. The Doctor was then building 
a house; and his brother thought they might be of service to 
him. But the carpenters finding the wood too hard for their 
tools, it was laid aside for a time as useless. Soon after a can- 
dle-box being wanted in his family, Dr. Gibbons requested 
his cabinet maker to use some of this plank which laid in his 
garden. The cabinet maker also complained that it was too 
hard. The Doctor told him he must get stronger tools. 
When however, by successful means, the box was made, the 
Doctor ordered a bureau of the same material; the colour and 
polish of which were so remarkable, that he invited all his 
friends to view it. Among them was the Duchess of Buck- 
ingham, who being struck with its beauty, obtained some of 
the wood: of which a like piece of furniture was immediately 
made for Her Grace. Under this influence the fame of ma- 
hogany was at once established; its manufacture was then 
found to be in nowise difficult; and its employment for both 
use and ornament has since become universal. 

The master-builders of science, literature and eloquence, de- 
clared * the Philosophy of the human voice' to be too hard 



Xll PREFACE. 

for their studious energies; and threw it aside as useless. 
But a few humble cabinet makers of learning having, some 
how or other, got stronger tools, have already made the box; 
are under way with the bureau; and are only waiting for the 
authoritative influence of some leader of oratorical fashion, — to 
produce a general belief in the simple truism that — if we 

WISH TO READ WELL, WE MUST FIRST LEARN HOW. 
Philadelphia, June 26, 1833. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The analysis of the human voice, contained in the follow- 
ing essay, was undertaken some years ago, exclusively as a 
subject of physiological inquiry. Upon the discovery of some 
essential functions of speech, 1 was induced to pursue the 
investigation; and subsequently to attempt a methodical de- 
scription of all the vocal phenomena, with a view to bring the 
subject within the limits of science, and thereby to assist the 
purposes of oratorical instruction. 

By every scheme of the cyclopaedia, the description of the 
voice is classed among the duties of the physiologist; yet he 
has strangely neglected his part, by borrowing the small sub- 
stance of his knowledge from the fancies of rhetoricians, and 
the dull authority of grammarians. It is time at last for phy- 
siology, of right and seriously, to take up its task. 

In entering on this inquiry, I determined to avoid an ex- 
press reference to the productions of former writers, until the 
influence of nature over the ear should be so far established, as 
to obviate the danger of adopting unquestioned errors, which 
the strongest effort of independence often finds it so difficult to 
avoid. Even a faint recollection of school instruction was not 
without its forbidding interference, with my first endeavour 
to discover, by the ear alone, the hidden processes of speech. 

After obtaining an outline of the work of nature in the voice, 
sufficient to enable me to avail myself of the useful truths of 
other observers, and to guard against their mistakes, I con- 
sulted all accessible treatises on the subject, particularly the 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

European compilations of the day, the authors of which have 
opportunities for selection, not enjoyed in this country. Find- 
ing, on comparison, that the following history of the voice re- 
presents its nature more extensively and definitely than any 
known system, 1 am induced to offer it to the public. Many 
errors may be found in it; but if the leading points of anatysis, 
and the general method be not a copy from nature, and do not 
prompt others to carry the subject into practical detail, I shall 
forever regret the publication. 

It becomes me, however, to remark, that as this work has 
not been made up from the quoted, or controverted, or accom- 
modated opinions of authors, 1 shall totally disregard any de- 
cision upon its merits, which is not made by a scrutinizing 
comparison with nature herself. 

The art of speaking well, has, in most civilized countries, 
been a cherished mark of distinction between the elevated and 
the humble conditions of life, and has been immediately con- 
nected with some of the greater labours of ambition and taste. 
It may therefore appear extraordinary, that the world, with 
all its works of philosophy, should have been satisfied with an 
instinctive exercise of the art, and with occasional examples of 
its perfection, without an endeavour to found an analytic'sys- 
tem of instruction, productive of more multiplied instances of 
success. Due reflection, however, will convince us, that even 
this extended purpose of the art of speaking, has been one of 
the causes of neglect. It has been a popular art; and works for 
popularity are too often the works of mediocrity. The ma- 
jority of the bar, the senate, the pulpit, and the stage, depre- 
cate the trouble of improvement: and the satisfaction of the 
general ear is, in no less a degree, encouraging to the faults of 
the voice, than the approving judgment of the million is sub- 
versive of the rigid discipline of the mind. 

Physiologists have described, and classed the organic posi- 
tions by which the alphabetic elements are produced. This 
has been done by the rule, and with the success of philosophy. 
Other attempts have not been so satisfactory. In treating the 
subject of Intonation, that is, the movement of the voice in 
regard to its pitch, they have not accurately measured, by 
some known or invented scale, the modes and degrees of such 
movements; and thus furnished a real detail of the economy of 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

speech. But they have endeavoured to determine whether 
the organs of the voice partake of the nature of a wind or string- 
ed instrument — how the falsette is made — and whether acute- 
ness and gravity are formed by variations in the dimensions of 
the glottis, or in the tension of its chords. After removing the 
organs from men and other animals, they have produced some- 
thing like their living voices by blowing through them. They 
have inspected the cartilages and muscles of the larynx, with 
the purpose to discover thereby the immediate cause of intona- 
tion, when they were ignorant of the very forms of that into- 
nation. In short, they have tried to see sound, and to touch 
it with the dissecting knife — and all this, without reaching any 
positive conclusion, or describing more of the audible effects 
of the anatomical structure, than was known two thousand 
years ago. 

Instead of listening to the forms of vocal sound, and record- 
ing them, physiologists, from the time of Galen to the present, 
have done little more than repeat the common-places of remark 
and argument, with that variety only which mere capricious 
changes in arrangement produce. 

The Greek and Roman rhetoricians, and writers on music, 
have recorded their knowledge of the functions of the voice. 
They distinguished its different qualities by such terms as hard, 
smooth, sharp, clear, hoarse, full, slender, flowing, flexible, 
shrill, and austere. They knew the time of the voice, and 
had a view to its quantities in pronunciation. They gave to 
loud and soft, appropriate places in speech. They perceived 
the existence of pitch, or variation of high and low: and noted 
further, that the rise and fall in speaking are made by a con- 
crete or continuous slide of the voice. This concrete sound, 
was, by them, contra-distinguished from the change of pitch 
produced on musical instruments; which consists in a rise or 
fall toother places of pitch, without the continuous junction of 
the slide. This was called discrete sound. 

The ancients however show no acquaintance with the subdi- 
visions, definite degrees, and particular applications of these 
general affections, for the discriminative purposes of oratorical 
use: and if we may judge, from an attempt by Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus to point out the difference between singing and 
speech, and from some other descriptions, totally irreconcilea- 



xvi INTRODUCTION. 

ble with any of the present modes of intonation, we must be- 
lieve that they made only a limited analysis of the voice; that 
the cultivation of the art of speaking was conducted altogether 
by imitation; and that the means of improvement were not 
reduced to any precise or available directions of art. 

No one can read the discourse on the management of the 
voice, in Quinctilian's elaborate chapter on action, without 
allowing to the ancients a power of perceiving the beauties and 
blemishes of speech. Yet among so many indications of their 
practical familiarity with the art, we find no clear description 
of its elements, nor any definite instruction. The abundant 
detail throughout his work, which more than once suggests an 
apology for its minuteness, precludes the supposition that he 
designedly omitted to describe any well known means, by 
which the various modes of the voice might be represented 
with useful precision. 

It is believed that the ancient rhetoricians designated the 
pitch of vocal sounds by the term Accent. They made three 
kinds of accents, the acute, the grave, and the circumflex; 
signifying, severally, the rise, fall, and turn of the voice. The 
existence, in Greek manuscripts, of certain marks, which how- 
ever were not applied till about the seventh century, afforded 
the only data, for modern inquiry into the nature of Greek in- 
tonation, and created a learned dispute, which has been con- 
tinued without one satisfactory result, from the time of the 
Younger Vcssius, to the recent days of Foster and Gaily. 

If Greek scholars had employed other means than contests 
with each other, for ascertaining the purpose of accentual 
marks, it would long ago have been determined whether they 
direct to any practical knowledge of Greek utterance, or are 
merely a subject for useless contention. If the tongue had been 
once consulted on this point, these symbols, even with the 
certainty of their alleged use, would have been rejected as 
vague and meagre representations of the rich and measurable 
variety of the voice. 

The disputants found that degree of obscurity in the ancient 
records on accent, which encourages the profitless labours, and 
alternate triumphs of party; which subjects opinion to all the 
chicanery of sectarian argument, and shuts out the conclusive 
inquiries of independent observation. In the full spirit of the 



INTRODUCTION. XVli 

old dialectic art, they < discoursed about truth until they for- 
got to discover it:' and whilst they exhibit a distressing waste 
of time and thought and temper, by seeking in the obscurity 
of unfinished records, that light which would readily have ari- 
sen on their observation, they hold out to the future historians 
of literature, a temptation towards the sarcastic inquiry, whe- 
ther the writers on Greek and Roman accent were endowed 
with the powers of hearing and pronunciation. 

Since the decline or limitation of classic authority, modern 
inquirers, by listening to the sounds of their own language? 
have at last undertaken to discover other elemental functions 
of the voice, than those represented by accentual marks. 

The works of Steele, Sheridan and Walker, have made large 
contributions to the long neglected and still craving condition 
of our tongue. 

Mr. Joshua Steele published, at London, in the year seven- 
teen hundred and seventy-five, ' An essay towards establish- 
ing the melody and measure of speech, to be expressed and 
perpetuated, by peculiar symbols.' The design of this essay 
was suggested by some remarks on the nature of speech, made 
by Lord Monboddo, in his ' Origin and progress of language;' 
and was executed, in part, as an argumentative correspondence 
between this Author and Mr. Steele. 

Future times may smile at some of the effects of classical pur- 
suits, if they should ever know that a free inquirer had consi- 
derable difficulty, in convincing a scholar, at the end of the 
eighteenth century, that the English language has those quali- 
ties of accent and quantity, which were supposed to belong ex- 
clusively to the Greek and Latin: for this was one of the ob- 
jects in the controversy. Mr. Steele has therefore given a no- 
tation of the time of the voice: and in showing that the same 
concrete intonation which belonged to syllables of the Greek 
language, is necessarily heard on those of his own, has en- 
deavoured, but unsuccessfully, to describe its specific applica- 
tion and range. The principal design of his work is, to set 
forth a system of rythmic notation, by which the accidents of 
emphasis and pause may be represented to a pupil; and the 
habit of attention fixed on these great points in the art of reading. 

Mr. Steele seems to have possessed nicety of ear ; a know- 
ledge of the science and practice of music; and an originality of 
C 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

mind, created by observation and reflection : powers sufficient 
to have investigated successfully the nature of speech. 

Had he pursued truth by observation instead of controversy; 
had he not suffered the harmless respect of a verbal decorum 
towards the opinions of others, to exert a secret weight of au- 
thority; had he not looked back to the ancients, and the dark 
confusion of their commentators, but kept his undeviating ear 
on nature, she would at at last have led him up to light. 

Mr. Sheridan is well known by his accurate and systematic 
investigation of the art of reading: and though he improved 
both the detail and method of his subject, in the departments 
of pronunciation, emphasis, and pause, he made no analysis of 
intonation. A regretted omission! The more so, from the 
certainty, that if this topic had seriously invited his attention, 
his genius and industry would have shed much light of expla- 
nation upon it. 

Mr. Walker, who, by his rhetorical and philological labours, 
has contributed largely to the improvement of the English 
language, exhibits in more than one place of his works, that 
the varieties of intonation were studiously examined by him: 
indeed, he reiterates his claims to originality on this subject. 
Mr. Walker may have been the first to endeavour to apply the 
conjectural system of accents to a modern language: but he has 
scarcely gone beyond the analysis on which the ancient doc- 
trine of inflection was founded. The Greek writers on music, 
had a discriminative knowledge of the rise, fall, and circumflex 
turn of speech. Aristoxenus the philosopher, a pupil of Aris- 
totle, discovered or first described that peculiar rise and fall of 
sound by a concrete or continuous progression, which distin- 
guishes the vocal slide, from the skipping or discrete transition 
on musical instruments. 

Mr. Walker does triumphantly claim the discovery of the 
inverted circumflex accent, or the downward-and-upward con- 
tinued movement. Yet, if it is correctly inferred from the 
dates of publication, and from Mr. Walker's rather derisive 
allusion to Mr. Steele's es.^ay, that the latter author preceded 
him, he might have found, in Mr. Steele's gravo-acute accent, 
proof of the real existence of his newly found function of the 
voice. 

Mr. Walker was a celebrated elocutionist, and may have 



INTRODUCTION. xix 

known well how to manage his intonation; but in his attempt 
to delineate its degrees, he is even less definite than Mr. Steele. 
His insinuation that music and speech, each being but varying 
affections of sound, should not be illustrated by some analo- 
gous notation, and his erroneous diagrams of the progress of 
pitch, are instances of a want of reflection and of obtuseness of 
ear, which would be quite reprehensible in any one, who, with- 
out compulsion, should undertake to investigate the relation- 
ships of sound. 

I have thus summed up the sources, and noted the degree of 
our knowledge of the vocal functions. There exists a copious 
detail in the branches of articulation, emphasis, accent, (in its 
signification of stress) and pause. On the other hand, the ana- 
lysis of intonation has not been carried much beyond the re- 
corded knowledge of the ancients. Greek and Roman writers 
tell us, of the acute, grave, and circumflex movements; and 
these, with the newly described inverted-circumflex, have, at 
a recent date, first been formally regarded, in the art of speak- 
ing the English language. 

These four general heads of intonation are truly drawn from 
nature: yet, with their present indefinite meaning, they are 
useless for practical instruction, and are no less imperfectly 
expressive of the measurable modifications of speech, than the 
four cardinal terms of the compass are descriptive of all the 
points, distances, and contents of space. 

The discovery of the above mentioned distinctions in into- 
nation, which must indeed form the outline of all nicer discri- 
minations, was the result of philosophical inquiry. A much 
more abundant, but not more precise nomenclature has been 
derived from criticism. The following phrases are extracted 
from a description of Mr. Garrick's manner of reading the 
church service, and have an especial reference to the intona- 
tion of his voice. — ' Even tenor of smooth regular delivery'— 
' Fervent tone' — ' Sincerity of devotional expression' — * Re- 
pentant tone' — ( Reverential tone' — ' Evenness of voice'— 
' Tone of solemn dignity' — ' Of supplication' — ' Of sorrow and 
contrition.' 

Those who know what constitutes the accuracy of terms, 
must confess that these, and similar attempts to name the signs 
of expression, have no more claims to the title of clear elemen- 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

tal description, than belongs to the rambling signification of 
vulgar nomenclature. We are not aware that no describable 
perceptions are associated with these phrases, until required 
to illustrate them by some definite discrimination of vocal 
sounds. ' Grandeur of feeling,' says a writer, ' should be ex- 
pressed with pomp and magnificence of tone;' and we may 
presume, that if he had been asked how pomp and magnificence 
of feeling should be expressed, he would have said, by gran- 
deur of tone. These are words, not explanations. Nor can 
any weight of authority give them the power of description: 
since the terms 'sorrowful expression,' and 'tone of solemn 
dignity' in the precepts of an accomplished Elocutionist, have 
no more precision of meaning, as to pitch, time, and force of 
sound, than those of ' fine turned cadence,' and ' chaste modu- 
lation,' in the idle criticism of a daily gazette. 

All arts and sciences appear under two different conditions. 
They may be seen through the medium of terms of vague sig- 
nification, adapted to the limited knowledge and feeble senses 
of the ignorant, in every caste of society. Those who view 
them under this condition, in vainly pretending to discrimi- 
nate, express nothing but their approbation. In the other 
light, they are shown in definite delineation, by a language of 
unchangeable meaning; and independently of the perversions, 
which slender ability, natural temper, or momentary humour 
may create. He who thus views an art, in expressing his ap- 
probation, always discriminates. 

Some branches of the art of speaking, are, even at this late 
period, scarcely removed from the first of these conditions. 
We might say, this is strange, if the causes were not so mani- 
fest. The specific constituents of intonation and force and 
time, have never been described: and the mind has conse- 
quently wanted that fine stimulus to attention, which abundant 
and definite terms always afford. The fulness of the nomen- 
clature of an art is always directly proportional to the degree 
of its improvement; and the precision of its terms is generally 
the index of its perfection. The few and indeterminate desig- 
nations of the modes of sound in Reading, compared with their 
number and accuracy in Music, imply the diffei*ent degree of 
success with which each has been cultivated. The inquirers 
into the nature of speech, have given up their judgments to 



INTRODUCTION. xxi 

authority, and their pens to quotation. The musician has de- 
voted his ear to observation, and his labour to the trial of its 
truth. The words, quick, slow, long, short, loud, soft, rise, 
fall and turn, include nearly all the analytic terms of the art. 
How far they fall short of an enumeration of all the functions 
of the voice, and how fairly I have represented the present 
condition of our knowledge, shall be determined by an age to 
come, when the ear will have made deliberate examination. 

A conviction of the imperfect state of our knowledge in 
some of the branches of the art of speaking, first suggested the 
design of the ensuing investigation of them: whilst a hope to 
influence others to assist in the completion of a desirable mea- 
surement and method of the voice, produces the present pub- 
lication. If I have failed to furnish a plan for the future es- 
tablishment of the principles of intonation and time and force, 
I must still desire to believe, without controversy, in the at- 
tainable nature, and practical benefits of such a work. 

I can not withhold from this place, a few very general re- 
marks on the importance of fixed principles in the arts; not only 
because these principles are the true sources of the intellectual 
enjoyment which the arts afford, but because they are the most 
effective means for their improvement. And although the en- 
tire want of such principles, for the government of intonation, 
has unnecessarily led to the belief that they can not be insti- 
tuted, still 1 hope to show, in the following essay, that they 
are not only as essential, but likewise as attainable in Elocu- 
tion, as in any other art which employs the judgment, and in- 
terests the imagination. 

Those persons who receive the highest enjoyment from the 
works of art, know well, that its fulness and durability are de- 
rived from the wide and vivid discernment, which is acquired 
by a disciplined reflection on those principles of taste that di- 
rected their production. The knowledge of these principles 
gives power to the artist, and delight to him who contemplates 
the work. It is not the form, or color, or sound, which mere- 
ly passes into the eye or ear, that constitutes an enlightened 
perception of the objects of the fine arts. Delicate organization 
is, indeed, essential to this perception : but it is the activity of 
the senses or the mind in the work of comparison, together 
with the application of pre-established rules, which forms the 



xxii INTRODUCTION. 

liberal pleasure of taste. And if there is yet to be discovered 
some surpassing efficacy of art, it can never be attained, except 
through the influence of sure and multiplied principles. 

Besides the means of advancement, which systematic prin- 
ciples afford an art, their powers are operative after a tempo- 
rary decline, or total loss of its practice. They work a speedy 
restoration when the influence of evil example has passed away, 
or a tradition of former excellence has produced a desire for its 
revival. The definite description of elementary constituents 
and the statement of the rule of their use, are particularly ne- 
cessary in the art of speaking well; since its exercise leaves no 
durable effect. The works of art, unaccompanied by the his- 
tory of their production and uses, are often as deep an enigma, 
as the works of nature: and a long course of observation is in 
each case equally required, to note and class their phenomena, 
and to discover their efficient and final causes. 

Although the ancients have left us abundant eulogistic anec- 
dotes of the art of Painting, they have been almost silent in 
relation to its higher principles: and the want of these, even 
with the benefits of patronage, was one cause of the delay of 
at least two centuries, in the gradual progress to its complete 
restoration, in modern Europe. Stories of the graces and 
possible powers of ancient art were revolved in the minds of 
the image-makers of Italy, and of the decorators of cloisters, 
like the problems of the mechanical wonders of Archimedes, 
which were not to be solved by record or tradition. 

Ancient architecture has, by the fragments of its ruins, been 
revived in modern days, to that degree which belongs to the 
dull precision of measurement: and in this view, may have all 
the accuracy of a copy. Delicate observation, aided by a re- 
fined taste in other arts is yet to be employed, in order to re- 
trieve the knowledge of those principles which must have di- 
rected the varied excellence of the Greeks: but which Vitru- 
vius perhaps designedly omitted, whilst compiling a popular 
book for builders; and which Pausanias, in his hurried tour, 
forgot to set down, as the proper preface to his inventory of 
temples. 

If the old writers on music had not transmitted some ac- 
count of the ancient scales, and their practical applications, 
the records of Choragic monuments, and the accounts of the 



INTRODUCTION. xxiii 

Odeum would have created in us, only a stupid wonder at all 
the works of sound. The inventive mind of Guido, instead of 
completing the modern scale, might have only laid its founda- 
tion, by fixing a single chord across a shell, and the finished 
system of modern harmony might now have been but just be- 
gun. 

The following essay exhibits an attempt to delineate the va- 
rying modes of speech, with that precise analysis which may 
render criticism instructive, and afford to future times, the 
means of comprehending its discriminations. 

The discussion of the subject of standard principles, in some 
of the arts, has always involved the question of their origin: 
and nature has generally been assumed as the source. 

There are two modes through which nature affords her 
governing rules in the arts. In one she sets as a prototype for 
exact imitation, in those branches of art which profess to copy 
her actual details. In the other, which consists in adorning 
some one creation of art, by a selection from her scattered in- 
tegrals of beauty, the standard grows out of that congenial 
judgment and feeling, exhibited in strong similarity among 
persons of equal cultivation, which, if it does not declare con- 
formity in taste to be the development of irreversible nature, 
at least affords education effectual means to personate her. 

The uses of the voice have not yet been brought to the rule 
of either of these conditions. Nature, or what we call nature 
in this case — unenlightened humanity, cannot be imitated en- 
tirely in her own aggregates; since she never furnishes a sin- 
gle instance worthy to be copied: and from the want of a full 
knowledge and definite nomenclature of the elements of speech, 
there has never been that clear perception of the causes of beau- 
ty and deformity, which would warrant the construction of a 
system upon the more artificial mode of selection. The high- 
est achievements in statuary, painting, and the landscape, con- 
sist of those ideal forms and compositions, which are perhaps 
never found purely associated in nature, but which, in the esti- 
mation of taste, far surpass her individual productions. 

In the following essay, the reader will find an analysis of 
the human voice, which will enable an Elocutionist of any 
nation, to reduce to established form, the best modes of speech 
in his language. He will also find the outline of a system of 



XXiv INTRODUCTION. 

principles that I have ventured to propose, upon a survey of 
those excellencies of utterance, which are accommodated to 
the temper and habits of the English ear; and which, in analo- 
gy with the above named arts, may be called the Ideal Beauty 
of speech. 

I am well aware, that in this undertaking, 1 oppose a vulgar 
error. The minute distinctions, the perpetual variations, and 
the rapid course of utterance are considered as invincible ob- 
stacles to the palpable representation of the principles of the 
speaking voice. This objection will be hereafter answered, 
otherwise than by verbal argument. I would now only ask, 
if there is no opportunity to count the radii of a wheel but in the 
race ; or to number and describe the individuals of a herd, ex- 
cept in the promiscuous mingling of their flight. Music, with 
its infinitude of details, would still have been a mystery, if the 
doctrine of its intervals and time, and the modes of their con- 
struction could have been caught, only from the multiplied 
combinations and rapid execution of the orchestra. The accu- 
racy of mathematical calculation, joined with the sober patience 
of the ear over the slow practice of its elements, has not had 
more success in disclosing the system of this beautiful and lu- 
minous science, than a similar watchfulness over the deliberate 
movements of speech, will afford for the facilities of instruc- 
tion, and the conscious use of its acquisitions. If there is any 
scope in the works of nature, or any foredoomed efficiency of 
means to complete the circle of her designs, we shall find, on 
the development of the scheme of speech, those unalterable 
rules, within the pale of which the voice should be variously 
exercised, in order to give light to the understanding, and 
pleasure to the ear. 

The accurate sciences and the fine arts, with great inadver- 
tence to the pretensions of each, have been set in opposition to 
each other, by wider antithesis, than is justified on near ex- 
amination. The careless argument asserts that taste is a vari- 
able feeling, and has no rule of beauty, in the uses of form, 
color and sound. If the general agreement among men of equal 
education in the arts, approximates towards the meaning of a 
standard, there is not full reason for the contrariety, decreed 
to these departments of knowledge. Who does not know that 
particular excellences of the painter, poet, architect, orator, 



INTRODUCTION. XXV 

statuary, composer, landscape improver and actor, have reached 
the spring of congenial perception, in those who reflect upon 
their works, and drawn therefrom an everduring approbation. 

Though future times will probably break down the mis- 
chievous distinction, which assigns a different kind of logic to 
different departments of knowledge; and will subject all nature 
and art equally to the simple and sufficient process of observa- 
tion and classification: still it may well seem to the present age, 
that between the perception of beauty in the arts, and of the 
accidents of mathematical quantity, there is little similarity. 
But I am aware of no other reason for the acknowledged cer- 
tainty of the relationships of magnitude and number, than the 
general consent of those who inquire into them. We agree 
upon them, because we all use the same rigid rule of observa- 
tion, (call it reasoning here if you will ;) and because we can 
embrace and contemplate all the premises which are involved 
in a conclusion. It is trifling to urge, that the properties of a 
conic section would still exist as truths, though they might 
never be demonstrated. Truth is a term invented for the uses 
of a percipient being; and the question before us is of know- 
ledge, not of notions. Otherwise we might, with like proof 
of an eternal rule of taste, assert that the proportions of a 
Greek column existed unhewn and unseen in the quarry; — 
like that conceit of old, which declared that the Venus of Gni- 
dos was not the work of Praxiteles; since nature herself had 
concreted the boundary surface of its beauty: the artist having 
only produced the fragments of his chisel, and the dust of his 
file. I speak here against an unlimited assertion of the varia- 
bleness of the principles of taste, and the apathy evinced by a 
neglect to discover or establish them; not of an equality in 
precision between them and the truths of the exact sciences. 

If I have rightly considered the disputed subject of taste, its 
controversies consist of the differences of the ignorant with ar- 
tists, and with one another; and rarely of the variance of edu- 
cated and intelligent artists among themselves. If the latter 
fail in setting their authority, or in extending the benefits of 
their principles over the presumptuous part of the multitude, it 
does not prove that a standard may not belong to the arts, or 
that artists do not enjoy the delightful effects of it; but that 
there is more assuming vanity in the world than fellowship in 
D 



XXvi INTRODUCTION. 

knowledge. Silence or modest inquiry is the duty of the ig- 
norant; and where neither is performed, nature seems, in their 
cases, to have departed from her plan in animal creation, by 
not withholding from them the litigious faculty of speech. 

These differences can not, of themselves, call in question the 
authority of principles in the arts. Most of the phenomena of 
cause and effect, in Natural Philosophy, are as obvious as proofs 
of the properties of curves, by the most exact calculus. Still 
pretenders, in every condition of life, are constantly trespass- 
ing within the bounds of this science, by the absurdity of their 
reasonings with each other, on points of natural knowledge. 
Knaves exhibit their Perpetual Motions, and the whole host of 
learned and unlearned credulity can not change the influence 
of those principles, which at once determine the impossibility. 

There is a wholesome kind of conviction on the minds of 
fools, which forces them to confess their want of knowledge in 
mathematics, if they have not studied that science. But taste, 
say they, is natural, therefore every one should have his own. 
It is true, every one knows what will please himself, in his 
ignorance: but the wise only know what will please the intel- 
ligent, in their education. 

In thus advocating the necessity of precepts for the govern- 
ment of an art, I deprecate any inference that it is designed to 
fix an unalterable standard. Established principles should not 
be, as the barrier of a flood, which in protecting from inroad, 
restrictively prevents the opportunities of further conquest, 
but as the guide and escort of the arts, to acquisitions of wider 
glory. With the exception of the misused principle of variety, 
I can not name an art which has not been supported and ad- 
vanced by their adoption. The search after novelty, or variety 
by succession, as it may be called, has, through the restless de- 
signs of vanity, and the influence of unguarded patronage, 
ruined more arts than all the wasting efforts of barbarism and 
time. 

The high accomplishments in Elocution are supposed to be, 
universally, the unacquired gifts of genius, and to consist of 
powers and 'graces beyond the reach of art.' So seem the 
plainest services of arithmetic to a savage : and so, to the slave, 
seem all the ways of music, which modern art has so accurately 
penned as to time and tune and momentary grace. Ignorance 



INTRODUCTION. " XXvii 

knows not what has been done ; indolence thinks nothing can 
be done ; and both uniting, borrow from the abused eloquence 
of poetry, an aphorism to justify supineness of inquiry. 

It has been said that a discovery of the full resources of the 
arts afford the means of debasement, or of perversion from 
their original purposes. This indeed has sometimes been the 
case. By an extension of the powers of musical execution, in 
the voice and on instruments, this art is, through misused me- 
chanical skill, and the waywardness of undiscerning patron- 
age, frequently exercised to the indifference or disgust of those, 
whose approbation would be durable ; and to the thoughtless 
satisfaction of those whom the caprice of ignorance may urge 
equally to support or to destroy. 

A full knowledge of the principles and practice of an art, 
enables an industrious and ambitious votary to approach per- 
fection ; whilst idle followers are contented with the defaults 
of imitation. With most men the labour of the mind, equally 
with that of the body, ceases with the removal of its necessi- 
ty ; and the shameless dependance on the intellectual alms of 
others is not less common, than the populous growth of pau- 
perism upon the increasing provisions of benevolence. The 
unbounded distributions of genius, prompt to excuses for indo- 
lence and to claims for succour, and the empire itself of the 
art, at last falls under the insurrection and anarchy of its former 
servile dependants. 

I am thus ready to admit that a full analysis of speech, to- 
gether with the establishment of a system of principles in the 
art, will not always exempt it from abuse or ruin. But I can 
not therefore, refrain from recommending a mode of cultiva- 
tion, which must ensure the highest satisfaction, whilst the art 
remains uncorrupted, and which, by the record of its defini- 
tions and method, will afford the best means for any needed 
restoration. 

Perhaps I am not wrong in asserting that the art of speaking 
well, does not consist of those accidents, which, by arbitrary 
use, are apt to lead to debasement. Some of the fine arts may 
receive the addition of Ornament, properly so called ; which 
holding but a separable relationship to its subject or principal, 
leaves taste to order the degree of its application, or its total 



XXvili INTRODUCTION. 

exclusion. The art of speaking is subject to no such condi- 
tions. The embodying of sense by sound, and the coloring 
of feeling by its expressive modes, are fixed in their amenity 
by the unalterable instincts of nature, or the satisfactory deci- 
sions of convention. All addition to the numbered signs of 
its language is redundancy, and all misplaced utterance is af- 
fectation. 

The following history of the voice is addressed especially 
to those who pursue science with attention and perseverance ; 
who prefer its useful accuracy to its ostentation ; who are satis- 
fied with the ' few — but fit audience ;' — and who know, from 
their own happy experience, that exactness of knowledge is 
the bright felicity of intellect. To inquirers of this character, 
1 need not say that even the rapid flight of speech may 
be more easily followed, when the general principles of its 
movement are understood. The hesitation of the ear will be 
prompted by the mind, and we shall more readily discern 
what is, by knowing what ought to be. 

After the preceding representation of our limited knowledge 
of the functions of the voice, and upon the promises of a more 
extended and precise analysis, the reader must not be surprised 
to find, in the following essay, a new and copious nomencla- 
ture. When unnamed additions are made to the system and 
detail of an art, terms must be invented for them ; and even 
when its known phenomena are exhibited under varied rela- 
tionships, the purpose of description is less perplexed by the 
novelty of terms, than by an attempt to give another applica- 
tion or meaning to former names. 

Many of the varieties of pitch having been accurately desig- 
nated and clearly arranged in music, I have freely transferred 
its applicable nomenclature to the description of speech : and 
whenever a language has been purposely framed, 1 have en- 
deavoured to make it, by direct or metaphorical use, purely 
explanatory of the nature of the vocal functions. 

Although I have gone deeply into the philosophical analysis 
of speech, and have spared no pains or detail in illustrating 
whatever might, from its novelty otherwise be obscure ; I have 
not pretended to make specific application of the principles of 
intonation, to all the styles of the reading and speaking voice. 



INTRODUCTION. XXIX 

This assumption of the discipline and practice of the habitual 
teacher, is beyond my design. I have treated the subject in 
that general manner which is best suited to a limited command 
of time. The full development of an art must be the work of 
many, and of their lives. I have here given the result of the 
leisure of about three years, snatched from the daily duty of 
extensive professional occupation. If in discharging the du- 
ties of that profession, I have selected from its physiological 
department, a subject of inquiry which gives its ultimate ser- 
vices in another art, I have not therein forgotten that nature, 
who never is ungrateful to the eyes that watch her, has still 
her secrets in the human frame, yet to be told for the health 
or happiness of man : the future search after which, may not 
be without success, and will not be without the satisfaction 
experienced in conducting these offered scrutinies of the tongue 
and ear. 

The reception which may await the following work, can be 
of no important interest to me. By taking care to antedate 
the season of its rewards and punishments, I have already 
found them in the varied pleasure and perplexity of its accom- 
plishment. I leave it therefore for the service of him who may 
in future desire to read the history of his voice. The system 
here exhibited will satisfy much of his curiosity: for I feel 
assured, by the result of the rigid mode of observation em- 
ployed throughout the inquiry, that if science should ever 
come to one consent on this point, it will not differ essentially 
from the ensuing record. The world has long asked for light 
on this subject. It may not choose to accept it now: but Hav- 
ing idly suffered its own opportunity for discovery to go by, 
it must, under any capricious postponement, at last receive it 
here. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds has a pretty thought on the labours of 
ambition and the choice of fame. I do not remember his words 
exactly ; but he figures the present age and posterity as rivals, 
— and those who receive the favour of the one, as being out- 
casts from the other. This condition, while it allows a full 
but transient satisfaction to the zeal which works only for a pre- 
sent reward, does not exclude all prospect from those who are 
contented in the anticipation of deferred success. — Truth, 



XXX INTRODUCTION. 

whose first steps should be always vigorous and alone, is often 
obliged to lean for support and progress on the arm of Time ; 
who then only, when supporting her, seems to have laid aside 
his wings. 



Philadelphia, January, 1827. 



THE 



PHILOSOPHY 



OF 



THE HUMAN VOICE 



SECTION I. 

Of the general Divisions of Vocal Sound: with a more 
particular account of its Pitch. 

All the varieties of sound in the human voice, may be re^- 
ferred to the following general heads: 

QUALITY, 

FORCE, 

TIME, 

ABRUPTNESS, 

PITCH. 

The detail of these five genera, and of the multiplied com- 
bination of their species, includes the enumeration of the ex- 
pressive powers of speech. 

It would be fruitless to attempt to give an analytical history 
of the voice, without the use of definite terms for the appreci- 
able modes of sound. It is therefore proper to inquire how far 
common nomenclature realizes the purposes of precision; and 
by what means any obvious deficiency may be supplied. 

The terms by which the Quality or kind of voice is distin- 
guished, are rough, smooth, harsh, full, thin, slender, soft, 
musical, and some others of the same metaphorical structure. 
They are sufficiently numerous; and as descriptive as possible,- 
without reference ( fixed to and exemplar sounds. Some at- 
tempt towards this kind of illustration has been made, by vari- 



32 DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 

ously distinguishing the singing voice, according to its resem- 
blance to the sound of the reed, the string and the musical glass. 
The voices of inferior animals also afford analogies to the vari- 
ety of quality in the human voice. 

For the specifications of Force we use the words strong, 
weak, feeble, loud, soft, forcible, and faint. These are inde- 
finite in their indication, and without any fixed relationship in 
degree. Music has more orderly and numerously distinguished 
the varieties of force, by its series of terms from Pianissimo 
to Fortissimo. I shall have occasion hereafter to add some 
terms answerable to new and curious distinctions in the modes 
of applying this accident. 

Time, in the art of speaking, is subdivided into long, short, 
quick, slow and rapid. Music has a more precise scale of re- 
lationship, in its order of signs from semibreve to double- 
demisemiquaver. The single or unaccompanied sound of speech 
does not require that nicety in Time which the concerting of 
music demands; yet there is need of more precision in desig- 
nating its species than the usual terms of prosody afford. Mr. 
Steele has given, in his work, a notation of time, sufficient for 
all the syllabic purposes of discourse. 

I shall hereafter make a division of this accident, with refer- 
ence to English syllables, and to their uses in utterance. 

I employ the term ^Abruptness to signify the sudden and 
full discharge of sound, as contradistinguished from its more 
gradual emission. This abruptness is well represented by the 
explosive notes which may be executed on the bassoon, and 
some other wind instruments. I have given this mode of 
sound a distinct title, because its characteristic is peculiar; and 
because it is an expressive agent in speech. 

The variations of Pitch are denoted by the words rise and 
fall, high and low. In our introduction I gave an opinion on 
the vague import and the insufficiency of this' division: and as 
the following history of the voice makes especial reference to 
this accident, and gives a minute detail of its varieties, it is 
necessary to adopt a full and more definite nomenclature of its 
degrees. 

It happened well, for our assistance in developing the func- 
tions of speech, that the phenomena of pitch were long ago 
observed, analyzed and named in the proper science of music. 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 33 

I shall endeavour to show that some of the varieties of pitch, 
employed by the speaking voice, are not technically known in 
that science. For these 1 have made a language. But most of 
the movements of the musical system are also found in speech. 
It is advisable therefore to adopt the musical terms for these 
identical functions ; not only because they are already known 
to many, and may, through elementary treatises, be easily 
learned by all; but because the application of a different nomen- 
clature to the same thing, would counteract the great object of 
philosophy ; which is — to include all similar facts under the same 
nominal classes: notwithstanding their different positions in the 
regions of nature and art, might, through the narrow logic of 
words and opinions, seem to call in question their identity. I 
shall therefore give a concise account of the terms by which the 
phenomena of pitch are distinguished in music. 

In entering upon this elementary and important explanation, 
wherein a recognition by the ear, of sounds merely described, 
is absolutely necessary for comprehending the subsequent parts 
of this work, I must beg the reader not to be discouraged by 
temporary difficulty. He who has been taught the principles 
of instrumental or vocal music, and is able to execute accu- 
rately with his voice, what is called the Gammut, will under- 
stand the following descriptions and definitions without much 
hesitation. He who knows nothing of the relations of musical 
sounds, nor of the regular scale on which they have been ar- 
ranged, must on this, as on so many other subjects of the school 
which need perceptible illustration, have recourse to a living 
instructor. He can generally find at hand instrumental perform- 
ers, or singing masters, or the precentor of some neighbouring 
church, who will exemplify to his satisfaction all that is merely 
descriptive here. 

I do not refer the reader to musicians and singers, for any 
assistance in his application of the principles of music to the 
analysis of speech. The mechanical formality to which they 
have at last brought their science, together with the wasteful 
industry of their perpetual practice upon difficulties, has, gen- 
erally speaking, so limited their perceptive faculty, that they 
are often the last to see, in the relations of other things, even 
the most striking analogies to the principles of their art. But 
their own art, merely as an art, they know well: to them 
E 



34 DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 

therefore I refer the reader for the exemplification of that tech- 
nical nomenclature, which 1 have here no other means than 
that of words and diagram to explain. 

The different degrees of Pitch in music are marked on what 
is called the Scale: the formation of which may be thus illus- 
trated : 

"When the bow is drawn across any one of the strings of a 
Violin, and the finger at the same time gradually moved, with 
continued pressure on the string, from its lower attachment, to 
any distance upwards, a mewing sound, if I may so call it, 
will be heard. This mewing is caused by the gradual change 
from gravity to acuteness, through the successive shortening 
of the string: and as the sound thus rises in acuteness by an 
uninterrupted line of momentary changes, it is called a continu- 
ous or Concrete sound. This movement of pitch, on the violin, 
is termed a Slide. 

The reader may himself exemplify this concrete mode of 
sound, by uttering the single syllable 'ha)',' as if he were ask- 
ing a question with the expression of earnest surprise, yet 
rather deliberate^; beginning at the gravest and ending at the 
most acute point of his colloquial voice. The gradual course 
of sound in this case is concrete. 

Now the sounds of what is called the scale in music, are not 
continuous or concrete, but are made — by drawing the bow 
whilst the finger is held stationary at certain places on the 
string: thus showing an interruption of the continuous upward 
slide. These places are seven in number, and their distances 
from each other are determined by a scientific rule for sub- 
dividing the string, which we need not consider here. Other 
sounds still ascending on the string may be made, by a similar 
interrupted progression. But since the second series of seven, 
though of higher pitch, yet adjusted by the same rule, do so 
accord respectively with the first seven, that they may be con- 
sidered as a kind of repetition of them, — and as the same is 
true of other classes of seven, that may be formed between the 
lowest and the highest limit of sound, — the whole extent of 
variation in acuteness and gravity, is regarded as consisting 
of but the simple scale of seven sounds, in different ranges of 
pitch. 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 



35 



I give, in the margin, a diagram of the places at 
which we suppose the string to be pressed: and 
have marked numerically two of the repeated 
series of seven sounds; using the initials T and S, 
respectively for Tone and Semitone, to which 
I shall presently refer. 

Upon comparing this picture with the above 
account of the production of concrete sound, and 
supposing the latter to be represented by the con- 
tinued vertical line on which these black points 
are set, it will be seen that some of the concrete 
is lost, when the finger skips from place to place 
on the string. The sounds thus produced by in- 
termissions of the concrete slide, are called Dis- 
crete Sounds * 

The explanation which has thus been given of 
the manner of concrete and discrete progressions, 
in an upward direction, is to be understood of the 
downward course also, under a reverse movement 
of the gradual slide and skip on the string. 

The variations of pitch on most musical instru- 
ments are discrete. The violin and its varieties 
derive much of their peculiar power in execution 
from being susceptible of the concrete movement; 
and it is one of the great sources, as I shall show 
hereafter, of Expression in the human voice. 

The several points at which we have supposed 
the sounds to be made in the discrete progression, 
and which are numerically designated in the dia- 
gram, are called the Places, Points or Degrees 
of the scale: and these are by relative position, 
either Proximate or Remote. 



• 14 



11 



10 



® 9 



6 i 



* The idea of this continuity and disjunction of the line of pitch is perhaps 
known to musicians only under the names of slide and scale. The terms con- 
crete and discrete, as here applied, are found in the higher works of the art alone, 
and are borrowed from mathematics; in which science they designate the two 
great generic divisions of quantity. Thus Magnitude is the concrete quantity ; for 
the lines, surfaces, and solids which constitute it, have their parts, so to speak, 
concreted or united immediately with each other.— whereas Number isthedis- 



36 DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 

The distance between any two points in the scale, whether 
proximate or remote, is called an Interval. The intervals in 
their proximate order are measured as follows:* 

The interval, or the quantity of concrete omitted between 
the first and second places, as numbered in the diagram, is 
called a Tone. 

That between the second and third is likewise a tone. 

That between the third and fourth, which appears as but 
half the space of a tone, is called a Semitone. 

The interval between the fourth and fifth; fifth and sixth; 
sixth and seventh, is each a tone — and lastly, that between 
the seventh and eighth, or first of the next series, a semitone. 

The intervals between the remote places or degrees of the 
scale, are designated numerically ; the extreme degrees being 
inclusively counted. Thus, from the first to the fifth, and 
from the fourth to the eighth, is each the interval of a Fifth. 
And so of the rest. 

Though the several discrete sounds of the scale are named 
according to their ordinal number, yet the first, relatively to 
its rising series, is generally called the Key-note: whereas the 
eighth, when considered in relation to the previous key-note, 
is called the Octave; for otherwise it may be regarded as itself 
the key-note of the following series. 

The succession of the seven sounds of any one series, to 
which the octave is usually added, is called the Natural or 
Diatonic Scale. It consists of five tones and two semitones ; 
the latter being the spaces between its third and fourth, and 
its seventh and eighth degrees. The scale then contains these 
several kinds of intervals, — a semitone ; a second, or whole 
tone ; a third ; fourth ; fifth ; sixth ; seventh ; and octave. 

crete quantity; since the succession of its constituent integers is altogether dif- 
ferent from any kind of continuity. 

The most familiar illustration of these terms, as applied to the two kinds of 
quantity in musical sound, is furnished by the form of a ladder, in which the side 
rails represent the concrete, and the rounds the discrete. 

* The well informed reader should regard this general view of the scale, and 
the manner of its illustration, with a thoughtful ness of my design. I have omit- 
ted the theoretic distinction of greater and lesser tone, of diatonic and chromatic 
semitone, and of the mjjor and minor scale, together with other particulars, both 
melodic and harmonic, with the intention to notice only what is preparatory to the 
description of speech. 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 37 

By the diagram, the interval between the second and fourth, 
is numerically a third, yet contains but one tone and a semi- 
tone : whereas, that between the first and third contains two 
whole tones. From this difference in extent the former is 
called a. Minor Third and the latter a Major Third. But 
since the minor third is of rare occurrence in speech, the term 
Third will, in this work, always refer to the major interval ; 
and the minor will be specified when meant. 

Having thus far, by description, endeavoured to give some 
idea of the construction of the Musical Scale, I here advise the 
reader, who may not be a musician, and who may never have 
heard of the nature of that scale, to ask, from some qualified 
master, an audible exemplification of its upward and downward 
progression, and of its several intervals ; the varied practical 
exercises on which are, in the language of vocal science, called 
Solfaing and Solmization. Let him studiously imitate this 
exemplification, and commit what he hears to memory. Let 
him not, if destitute of what is called a ' musical ear,' think he 
can not learn that which he now considers as a part of music. 
In communities where the cultivation of this art is the fashion, 
these things are all learned by thousands, who, with their na- 
tural ear, would never have caught up even a fragment of the 
commonest tune. And I am sure there is no one into whose 
hands this book will ever fall, who can possibly avoid perceiv- 
ing the several differences of meaning or expression, when he 
is addressed in the language of narrative, of surprise, com- 
plaint, authority, or interrogation. Now these various ex- 
pressive effects are perceptible to him, and accurately so, only 
because they are concrete or discrete movements of the voice 
through different intervals of the scale. His ear therefore 
really recognizes these slides and divisions in speech. I have 
here only given to his understanding and his tongue, their 
musical method and names. 

When an instructor can not be met with, the use of a well 
tuned Piano-Forte may assist the perception of those who have 
no acquaintance with the scale. On the key-board of this in- 
strument there is a front row of white keys, as they are called, 
and a rear row of black ones : an illustration of the forms and 
positions of which is given in the following diagram ; where a 



38 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 



portion of the Great Scale or Compass of the instrument is 
shown ; and the white keys numbered in repeated septenary 
series ; and in continuation as far as twenty-one. 



3 4 



6 7 8 



10 11 * 12 13 14- 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 



i mum 



123456 7. 123456 7. 1234567 



Now certain series of the white keys, — of which there are 
three in the diagram, the first beginning on its extreme left, — 
when struck successively ascending towards the right, give the 
seven discrete rising sounds of the diatonic scale. The black 
keys, whose effect in modifying this scale will be noticed pre- 
sently, are set between the white ones, for the purpose of di- 
viding the whole tones into semitones. Hence we see that the 
black keys are wanting at the semitonic intervals of the scale, 
where, of course, their design can not apply. This omission 
visibly separates the black keys alternately into pairs and 
triplets. 

With the foregoing explanation, the reader can have no 
difficulty in finding a diatonic series on the white keys of a 
Piano-Forte, since the key-note or beginning of the series al- 
ways lies next below the pair of black keys. Let him then, 
on that series which suits the pitch of his speaking voice, se- 
verally utter the vowels, and some of their syllabic combina- 
tions, in unison with the instrumental sounds, both in their 
diatonic order, and with the wider transitions of the other in- 
tervals of the scale, till the whole is familiar, to his ear, and 
at the call of his memory. It is true the Piano-Forte can show 
him only the discrete movements of pitch ; but when these are 
under his command, the concrete, which are perhaps the most 
important in speech, can readily be measured by them. But 
to return to our definitions, — 

The sound produced at any oi the places of the discrete scale, 
is called a Note. This term note, which signifies the continua- 
tion of sound on one unvarying line of pitch, is to be carefully 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 39 

distinguished from that of Tone. The term tone in this essay, 
applies — either to the rising or falling of the voice through any 
two proximate degrees of the scale, except those which make 
the semitones, in the case of concrete sound ; — or to the amount 
of space between such degrees, when the concrete is omitted, 
in the case of discrete sounds. 

As the term tone is thus used under two conditions, so are 
the terms of other intervals included between remote degrees : 
for the voice may move concretely though those intervals, or 
notes may be made at those degrees, with the omission of the 
concrete. Let us call the former of these conditions, Concrete 
Intervals, and the latter Discrete Intervals. 

The first, third and fifth notes of the diatonic scale, to which 
the octave, as a sort of repetition of the first, is usually added, 
differ from the rest, in being more agreeable to the ear when 
heard in continuation. The third, fifth and octave, are also 
more readily hit by an inexperienced voice, in an endeavour 
to execute the several discrete intervals of the scale. That sim- 
ple instrument called the Jews-harp, and some of the horn spe- 
cies, more easily yield these notes under the faltering attempts of 
a learner. When the reader is taking his lessons on the scale, 
let him make his ear especially familiar with the last named 
intervals : much reference will be made to that knowledge, in 
the future parts of this work. 

I give below a representation of the manner in which mu- 
sicians set their symbols for the diatonic sounds, on that linear 
table called the Staff. This staff consists of five horizontal 
parallel lines, having four spaces between them. Each space 
and line represents a degree of the scale ; so that from space 
to line, and line to space, when they adjoin, is a second : and 
these degrees are called conjoint or proximate. When the 
discrete movement is over a wider interval than a second, it is 
called a Skip. The succession of the scale is here marked by 
black points, rising from the lowest line to the highest space of 
the staff : the intervals of the semitones being designated by a 
brace. 






40 DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 

I have thus endeavoured to describe the concrete movement 
of sound, and its discrete progression through the diatonic 
scale. But the discrete form of pitch appears under further 
subdivisions, which are effected in the following manner. 

In any series of seven notes, as the first marked in the pre- 
ceding vertical diagram of the scale, and in that of the key- 
board, let us assume the Fifth, as the first of a new series. 
This, with its octave, will extend to the place numbered twelve. 
Six of its places in their rising order will have right positions ; 
and thus far the intervals of tone and semitone will exhibit the 
proper successions of the diatonic scale. But the interval be- 
tween the tenth and eleventh is a semitone, and that between 
the eleventh and twelfth, a tone: whereas, by the rule of the 
scale the order should be reversed. For the tenth, eleventh 
and twelfth, marked in the diagrams, are respectively the 
sixth, seventh and eighth of the new series assumed from the 
fifth. If now the intervals from eleven to twelve be subdivided 
into two semitones, as shown by a cross in the vertical diagram, 
and a star in that of the key-board, and if the transit be made 
from the tenth place to this point of division, two semitones, 
making thus one whole tone, will be passed over, the interval 
from this middle point to the twelfth will be a semitone, and 
in this way the constituent intervals of the diatonic scale will 
be obtained. 

And further, if we take the fifth above the key-note of this 
new series, or the fourth below it, which are represented re- 
spectively by the ninth and the second of the diagrams, and 
which are considered the same, because they have the like 
position of second in the two series, as shown in the key- 
board : then a similar subdivision of the whole tone, between 
the fifteenth and sixteenth, will be necessary, with the use of the 
former subdivision, to construct the scale. And thus progres- 
sively, by taking the fifth of the last series, or the fourth below 
it, every place of the scale may become the first of a series ; 
and every whole tone may thereby be divided, as shown by 
the black keys in the diagram of the key-board. This division 
produces a series of semitones. When therefore the progres- 
sion is made by them, the order of degrees is called the Semi- 
tonic or more commonly the Chromatic Scale. 

But it is necessary for my purpose in the future history of 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 41 

speech, that the succession of discrete sounds should be exhi- 
bited under still more reduced divisions. These consist in a 
transition from place to place in pitch, over intervals much 
smaller than a semitone : each point being, as it were, rapidly 
touched by a short and abrupt emission of voice. This descrip- 
tion may be illustrated by the manner of that noise in the throat 
which is called gurgling ; and by the neighing of a horse. The 
analogy here regards principally the momentary duration, fre- 
quency and abruptness of sound ; for the gurgling is generally 
made by a quick iteration in one unvarying line of pitch. But 
in the scale now under consideration, each successive pulse of 
sound is taken at a minute interval above the last, till the series 
reaches the octave. We can not tell the precise extent of these 
small intervals, nor the number of pulses in given portions of 
the scales, since this function is executed in a manner, and with 
a rapidity which prevent discrimination. Nor are these points 
material now. My purpose requires it to be known that the 
voice does rise and fall, with short and abrupt iterations through 
the whole extent of pitch, by steps less than a semitone. 
Whether the discrete space is that fractional part of a tone 
which is called a comma, or some division or multiple of it, 
I leave to be determined among theorists, by other means than 
that of the ear alone. 

Let us then call this species of movement the Tremulous 
Scale. 

I have thus described four modes of the progressions of pitch: 
and though in speaking of the concrete, I did not call its slide 
a scale, since its unbroken line has no analogy with the inter- 
rupted steps of a discrete succession : yet with a full under- 
standing of its nature, there can be no objection to its being so 
called. 

There are then Four scales of pitch. The Concrete, in 
which, from the outset to the termination of the voice, there 
is no appreciable interval, or interruption of continuity. 

The Diatonic, whose transitions are principally by whole 
tones. 

The Chromatic, consisting of an entire succession of semi- 
tones : and, 

The Tremulous, which with its minute intervals, has never, 
so far as I know, been employed upon musical instruments : 
F 



42 DIVISrONS AND DEFINITIONS. 

the trill or shake being, as I shall show hereafter, a totally- 
distinct function. 

For the purpose of explanation, the scales have been repre- 
sented separately, though in the practice of the voice they are 
variously united : and I have been thus particular in their de- 
tail, since speech makes use of them all. The concrete is con- 
stantly found : and we shall hereafier learn in what manner 
the diatonic, chromatic and tremulous scales are joined with it. 
The term Melody is applied to a regulated vocal or instru- 
mental use of all those modes of pitch which are descrihed in 
the above named scales. The full meaning of the term em- 
braces the further relations of time, rythmus and pause : but 1 
here speak of pitch alone. That agreeable effect of tune called 
melody is produced by a succession of the notes of the scale, 
under every permutation, of which, its seven elements, in a 
proximate or skipping progression, are capable. We shall find 
hereafter that the melody of speech, is founded on the same 
principle of varied intervals : whilst it has at the same time pe- 
culiarities, arising from its concrete and tremulous movements, 
and from not being affected by the doctrine of what in music 
is called Key. 

The term Key is applied to each of the several series of the 
diatonic scale, which may be made upon musical instruments. 
And as it appears by the diagram of the key-board, that the 
semitonic divisions of the whole tones of the scale make 
twelve places, from each of which a diatonic succession may 
be arranged, so the scale of the piano-forte admits of twelve 
different keys. The first note of the succession is called, as we 
said formerly, the key-note. The relationship of this to the 
other notes of the scale is such, that a melody will appear un- 
finished, if its last sound be not the key-note of the scale, or 
the octave to it, which is its nearest concord. . 

It is a condition in music, that a melody formed of the varied 
permutations of the notes of any one key shall not employ the 
constituent notes of another. Thus in the vertical diagram, 
there is a series, with its key-note at number one : and another 
with its key-note at five. But to form the last we found it ne- 
cessary to divide the tone between the eleventh and twelfth 
points, in order to obtain the final semitone of the diatonic scale: 
and it appears that all the notes are common to the two series, 



DIVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 43 

except the seventh of this last. Now a melody or tune begun 
on the first series, can not employ that seventh and be agreea- 
ble to the ear, but with an express design to leave the first se- 
ries, and afterwards to carry on the tune altogether by the 
notes of the last. This transition from one series to another is 
called Modulation, or Changing the key. 

Intonation signifies the act of performing the movements 
of pitch through the several scales, in song and in instrumental 
execution. It therefore regards merely the changes of sound 
between acuteness and gravity. Thus we say, — the emphasis 
and accent of speech have long been subjects of inquiry, but 
its intonation has been entirely overlooked. Intonation is 
said to be correct or true, when the discrete steps or concrete 
slides over the intended interval are made with exactness. 
Deviation from this precision is called singing or playing 
false. 

The term Cadence means the consummation of the desire 
for a full close in the melody, by the resting of its last sound 
in the key note. 

I have thus endeavoured to prepare the reader for all that re- 
lates to the science and nomenclature of music, in the follow- 
ing description of speech. When the analytic principles of the 
voice will have become familiar, through general instruction 
and practice, the Art of Speaking will seem to offer less difn- 
cultv, by having an acknowledged system and nomenclature 
of its own. Now we are obliged to study another art, in or- 
der to make one of it. 

In the preceding explanations, I have gone rather beyond 
what is absolutely necessary for comprehending the proper 
science of Analytic Elocution, now to be first set forth : for I 
have described, with some care, the nature of Key and Modu- 
lation in music, although speech is not constructed upon the 
principles of either. 1 presumed, however, that it would not 
be uninteresting to some inquirers to know wherein the differ- 
ences of the cases consist. 

I feel how perplexing it is, I was about to say, it is impossi- 
ble, to render the separated parts of a science, so well divided 
in method yet so closely related in detail, as that of music, 
clearly intelligible. But if what has been said will enable the 
reader to understand the system and particulars of the four 



44 OF THE RADICAL AND 

scales, and to execute them, he will not have much difficulty 
in pursuing our further history of a new and beautiful science 
of the human voice. 






SECTION II. 



Of the Radical and Vanishing movement of the voice, and 
its different forms in Speech, Song and Recitative. 



We have been willing to believe, on faith alone, that nature 
is wise in the contrivance of speech. Let us now show, by 
our works of analysis, how she manages the simple elements 
of the voice, in the production of their unbounded combina- 
tions. 

When the letter * a,' as heard in the word ' day,' is pronoun- 
ced simply as an alphabetic element, without intensity or emo- 
tion, and as if it were a continuation and not a close of utter- 
ance, two sounds are heard continuously successive. The first 
has the nominal sound of this letter; and issues from the or- 
gans with a certain degree of fulness. The last is the element 
<e,' as heard in 'eve,' which gradually diminishes until its 
close. During the pronunciation, the voice rises by the con- 
crete movement through the interval of a tone; the beginning 
of the < a' and the termination of the ' e' being severally the in- 
ferior and superior extremes of that tone. 

As the description here given, may not in practice, be at 
once recognized by the reader, on account of the limited ex- 
tent of the concrete, its delicate structure, and momentary du- 
ration, 1 shall endeavour to throw some particular light of ex- 
planation upon it. 

That the sound expressed by the letter 'a,' when thus utter- 
ed concretely, has the diphthongal character, will be obvious 



VANISHING MOVEMENT. 45 

on deliberately drawing out this single element, as if it were a 
question put with great surprise. For in this case its com- 
mencement will be what 1 have called the nominal 'a,' and its 
sharp termination in 'e,' at a high pitch will be no less distin- 
guishable. 

By the same mode of interrogation, the fulness or greater 
volume of sound upon 'a,' and the diminishing close in 'e,' 
will be equally obvious to an attentive ear. And it is not im- 
probable that the feebleness of this last constituent of 'a,' in its 
ordinary pronunciation, is at least one cause that the dipthongal 
structure of this element, has, so far as 1 know, never before 
been recognized. 

Now, that ' a,' when uttered simply as the head of the alpha- 
bet, without any striking expression, and as if it were a con- 
tinuation not a close of speech, — does rise through the concrete 
of a tone, may be made manifest to the reader, by his ability 
to intonate the diatonic scale. For let him ascend discretely 
by the alternate use of ' a' and <e,' prolonging each as a note, 
and making a slight pause between them. This will render 
him familiar with the relationship of the two elements, when 
heard on the extremes of a tone ; as illustrated by the first di- 
vision of the following diagram, where three degrees of the 
scale are shown; the notes after their prolongation having a 
slight diminishing issue, which is represented by a small ' e' 
subjoined to the larger letters that designate the prolonged notes. 

Then let him ascend the scale by a kind of union of the con- 
crete and discrete progressions; that is by beginning with 'a* 
slightly prolonged, and proceeding to ' e' in the second place, 
without breaking the continuity of sound, and thence after 
slightly prolonging the 'e,' passing concretely to 'a' in the 
third place ; as illustrated -by the second division of the dia- 
gram, where full notes are connected by slender concretes. 
This practice will make him familiar with the effects of a con- 
crete rise through a tone, when the upper extreme is rendered 
remarkable, by the stress and prolongation it receives at the 
second place of the scale. 

Supposing then the interval of a tone to be distinguishable, 
when thus uttered with a full volume of sound on ' a' continued 
into a like volume on 'e,' or with what may be called a double 
stress; it may be proved in the following manner that the sim- 



46 



OF THE RADICAL AND 



pie utterance of 'a' in ' day,' passes through a like interval. — 
Let the 'a' and 'e' be repeatedly pronounced with this double 
stress, till the effect of the interval, is for the moment impres- 
sed upon the ear. Then let the stress on ' e' be gradually les- 
sened in the repetition : as illustrated by the series of symbols 
in the third division of the diagram. The audible effect, even 
with this diminution, will so resemble that of the double stress, 
that the cases, as far as regards intonation, will be admitted as 
identical. For as the interval is plainly cognizable, when both 
extremes receive the stress, so in returning to the simple pro- 
nunciation of 'a,' the perception of this interval will be kept 
up through the gradual progress of the change. 



FIRST DIVISION. 



SECOND DIVISION. 



THIRD DIVISION. 




A— E — A A-EA-eAeA 



If there should at any time be a doubt as to the extent of the 
concrete interval, let stress be applied at its summit. When 
the interval is a tone, the two sounds will form the commence- 
ment of the diatonic scale: for with a little experience the 
course of this scale can always be recognized, upon the execu- 
tion of its first and second degrees. 

The diphthongal sound of 'a' does then in this case pass 
through the concrete interval of a tone; the movement being 
divided between the sounds of 'a' and ' e,' the first gliding im- 
perceptibly into the last. But as the question here refers to 
the extent of the interval traversed, and to its upward direc- 
tion, as well as to its concrete progress, it is necessary to guard 
against the utterance of the literal element with any emotion : 
for if it be done in a plaintive manner, with surprise, interro- 
gation, or other impressive sentiments, or as if it were the 
close of a sentence, the concrete will be some other interval 
than the tone, or will move in a downward direction; this 
tone or second, being as will be shownJiereafter, the instinctive 
mode of intonation, by which the mind denotes its simple 
thoughts, exclusively of feeling or passion. 



VANISHING MOVEMENT. 47 

The peculiar structure of this concrete rise suggested the di-' 
vision of it, by terms, into two parts; and the use of this divi- 
sion, for explanatory purposes in the following history, will 
show its propriety. 

1 have called the first part, or that of 'a' in the above in- 
stance, the Radical movement ; because, with a full begin- 
ning or opening, the following portion of the concrete rises 
from it as from a base or root. 

I have called the last portion, or that of i e' in the example, 
the Vanishing movement, from its becoming gradually weak- 
er as it rises, and finally dying away in the upper extreme of 
the tone. 

It must strike the reader that these terms can have only a 
general reference to the two extremes of the concrete, since the 
gradual change of the radical into the vanishing movement, 
prevents our assigning an exact point of distinction between 
them. 

When a single alphabetic sound, capable of prolongation, is 
uttered with propriety and smoothness, and without emotion, 
it commences full and somewhat abruptly, and gradually de- 
creases in its upward movement : having the increments of 
time, and rise, and the decrements of fulness, equably pro- 
gressive. That is, supposing a gradual diminution of fulness 
of voice in its gradual rise through a tone, to be effected in a 
given time — one half or smaller fraction of that rise and dimi- 
nution will be accomplished in one half or smaller fraction of 
that time. Let us call this movement the Equable Concrete. 

The varied mode of the syllabic function in Song and Reci- 
tative, may help to illustrate the nature of this equability of 
the rising movement of speech. 

The long drawn voice of one continued pitch, which we hear 
in Song and Recitative, is produced in two ways. 

First; by giving the greatest proportion of time and volume 
to a level line of sound, if I may so call it, in the radical place ; 
and by subsequently passing concretely, lightly, and rapidly 
through the vanishing portion. Let us call this the Protracted 
Radical. 

Secondly; by passing concretely, lightly, and rapidly 
through the radical portion, and then dwelling with greater 



48 OF THE RADICAL AND 

volume on a level line in the highest place of the vanish. Let 
us call this the Protracted Vanish. 

Thus far then, intonation exhibits three modifications of the 
radical and vanishing movement. The Equable Concrete of 
speech : — The Protracted Radical, and the Protracted Vanish, 
both of which are used in Song and Recitative. But we shall 
have occasion to learn, as we proceed, the various relation- 
ships of the concrete, to all the simple and compounded inter- 
vals, to the alphabetic elements, to time and to force. 

I have spoken of the radical and vanishing movement 
through a tone, with a view to explain by that interval, the 
nature of the concrete rise, and its division into the parts 
which have been named. But in taking a wider survey of 
this subject, we shall learn, that this function, with all its pro- 
perties, is performed on every other interval of the scale. 

Recurring to the illustration by the second division of the 
last diagram, if we ascend concretely to the octave by the al- 
ternate use of ' a' and ' e' this continuous movement between 
the two last places, or from the seventh to the eighth, will 
produce a different effect from that between the first and se- 
cond, or the tone. The voice will have a plaintive character. 
Now the interval from the seventh to the eighth place of the 
diatonic scale, is a semitone. This plaintive concrete rise is 
then the radical and vanishing movement through a semitone. 

By a process analogous to that proposed for distinguishing 
the interval of the tone and semitone, it may be ascertained 
that the voice employs a similar mode of progression through 
other intervals : thereby proving the existence of a Rising, 
radical and vanishing semitone, — tone or second, — major and 
minor third, — fifth, — and octave. But these intervals have 
their proper significations in the expression of speech, and will 
be particularly noticed elsewhere. 

1 say nothing here of a radical and vanishing fourth, — sixth, 
and seventh ; nor of higher ranges than the octave ; not be- 
cause the voice does not perform these intervals, but because 
a reference to the above named points, is sufficiently precise 
for the purposes of our history. 

Let us consider another condition of the radical and vanish- 
ing movement. We have viewed the concrete of the voice 
only in its rising progress. There is a similar glide in a down- 



VANISHING MOVEMENT. 49 

ward direction through all the intervals of the scale. Referring 
to the mode of illustration formerly proposed, if the bow be 
drawn whilst the finger is moving continually from the eighth 
place on the string to the first, it will produce the concrete 
descending sound of the octave. And in like manner, by 
taking other parts of the scale as the commencement of a de- 
scending course, all the other downward intervals may be 
made. The trial by the voice will exhibit a similar down- 
ward continuous sound : for after ascending the diatonic scale 
by the dipthongal concrete of 'a' and 'e,' if we descend by 
the alternate use of these sounds, beginning with 'a' on the 
eighth place, we shall hear the continuous movement between 
all the points of the downward scale. In the first interval of 
the descending series, we have the concrete downward semi- 
tone; and in the last, the tone. And in like manner, by a 
previous rise to the place of a third, fifth and octave, and a 
consequent descent, we may prove the existence of a Down- 
ward radical and vanishing third, — fifth, — and octave. 

Now if this simple phrase ' farewell a' be uttered without 
emotion, and with a complete fall of the voice, as if it were 
the close of a sentence, the downward concrete tone will be 
heard on ' a' with all the properties which belong to the radi- 
cal and vanishing movement, in the^ ising direction : with this 
difference, that the radical, if I may now so call it, is at the 
summit of the tone; whilst the vanish flows dwindling from 
it to the lower extreme of this interval ; the < e' faintly sub- 
siding there. 

He who is acquainted with the musical scale, but who has 
not yet looked upon it in reference to speech, may ascertain 
the upward intonation of the tone and semitone, when made 
upon any vowel sound, by a comparison of their effects with 
the beginning and the end of the rising order of the scale. 
And in like manner, he may know the downward courses of 
the semitone and tone, by comparing them respectively with 
the beginning and end of the descending scale. Every one 
knows a plaintive expression in speech ; therefore it is easy 
to discriminate a semitone. And 1 have full confidence in as- 
serting, that before the attentive reader has finished this essay, 
he will have no more difficulty in recognizing every other im- 
portant interval of the rising and falling movement. 
G 



50 O^ THE RADICAL AND 

In describing the rising radical and vanish of the tone, I coff- 
tradistinguished the concrete syllabic voice from the protracted 
radical and vanish of that same interval. But it will be shown 
hereafter, that Song employs a similar mode of intonation on 
wider intervals : that is, the protracted radical and vanish are 
used in continuation with a following or a preceding concrete 
of wider rising intervals, and the like protracted notes are 
joined respectively to the summit and the foot of the wider 
concretes of a downward direction. 

As the concrete rise of the voice is perhaps more generally 
used in speech, than the downward course, I shall, in noticing 
intervals, employ the term radical and vanishing movement, 
without specifying its rise, to signify the former; and shall 
particularize the latter, by annexing the term of its direction. 
In designating the concrete function, I shall variously denomi T 
nate it, the radical and vanishing movement, — progress, — in- 
terval, — or pitch ; or simply the radical and vanish, — or the 
concrete; or the radical and vanishing tone, — semitone, — third, 
— fifth, — and octave, according to the general or specific in- 
tention. 

I have thus endeavoured to describe one of the most impor- 
tant functions of speech. There is a peculiarity in the intona- 
tion of the human voice, which has never been copied by in- 
strumental contrivance. The sounds of the horn, flute, reed, 
and musical glass, may each equal and even surpass in quality 
a long drawn vocal note ; but there is still something absent, 
that designates them as instruments. It is the want of the gli- 
ding concrete, the lessening volume, and the soft extinction of 
the yet inimitable vanishing movement. 

The illustration by a diagram may perhaps facilitate the com- 
prehension of the foregoing descriptions. For this purpose 1 
use below, certain parts of the musical notation. The lines and 
spaces denote places of pitch ; the proximate succession being 
that of a tone. These lines and spaces differ from the staff of 
the musical system : the latter being founded on the diatonic 
scale, denotes, in certain places, the interval of a semitone ; 
whereas the lines and spaces of the notation for speech signify 
always, the succession of a tone, except when otherwise speci- 
fied. The full black marks on these lines and spaces, with 
their issuing appendages of various extent, represent the open- 



VANISHING MOVEMENT. 



51 



irrg fulness, direction, interval and diminution of the radical 
and vanishing movement. The whole of this notation being 
mere metaphor, there is no meaning in the curve given to the 
sign of the vanish. In that 1 have consulted only the eye. 
Time is here represented as in music : the open ellipse signi- 
fying the longest ; the black head with a stem, the fourth of it ; 
tbis head with its stem marked at the extremity by one and 
two hooks, each successively the eighth and sixteenth of the 
open ellipse. — Except for the prolonged radical and vanish, it 
is not my intention to use the notation of time, in this essay. 
This subject has been well analyzed, and clearly arranged in mu- 
sic ; and the application of its well contrived symbols to speech, 
when desirable, will not require much ingenuity or labour. 



5 o 
°E-< 



| Eh 

Q 



o 



1H 



\ f\* \ J \\ 






■04 






^A 



O fe 

O 



1^ 

O 

o 






c i3 

oO 
Q 



j n 1 j " 1 t 



1 have not represented the semitone, since its mode of de- 
lineation may be easily understood from the picture of the 
other intervals. The circumstances of its notation will be 
considered in a future section. 

The reader must not be discouraged by the seeming diffi- 
culty of the foregoing distinctions. I have here laid down, as 
a didactic rule, the very train by which these phenomena 
were discovered. They were not seen at a glance. The first 
views were full of indistinctness and doubt, greater perhaps 
than a quick student may experience from the descriptions in 
this section : yet I can declare that now after three years, the 
functions here explained, are much more perceptible to me, 
than the varieties of color without direct comparison ; and 
quite as distinct as the literal and syllabic sounds of discourse. 



52 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 



SECTION III. 



Of the Elementary Sounds of the English Language ; 

with their Relations to the Radical and 

Vanishing Movement. 

The radical and vanishing concrete, under all its forms, is 
employed on a limited number of sounds, which in the English 
language amount to thirty-five. The deficiencies, redundan- 
cies, and confusion of the system of alphabetic characters in 
this language, prevent the adoption of its subdivisions in this 
essay. 

An alphabet should consist of a separate symbol for every 
elementary sound : and it appears to me that the best practical 
arrangement of the elements, would be that which regards 
their use in discourse. .It will not be denied that intonation is 
one of the most important functions of speech : consequently 
the ordering of the elements should have some reference to it. 
In the present section therefore, these elements will be de- 
scribed and classed according to their use in intonation. * 

* I set aside, in this place at least, the sacred division into vowels, conso- 
nants, mutes and semivowels. The complete history of nature will consist of a 
full description of all the relationships of things. We received the classification 
of the alphabet from Greek and Roman grammarians: and their division, accord- 
ing to organic causes, into labial, lingual, dental and nasal elements, is to be re- 
garded as a legitimate part of that history. But whatever motive connected with 
the vocal habits of another nation, or the etymologies of another tongue, may have 
justified the division into vowels and consonants under their present meaning, it 
does not now exist with us. Without designing to overlook or destroy any ar- 
rangement which truly represents the relationships of these sounds, it is only in- 
tended to add to their history, a classification grounded on their important func- 
tions in speech. The strictness of philosophy should not be so far forgotten, as to 
suffer the claim of this classification to be exclusive. Let it remain as a constituent 
portion only of new and wider prospects, yet to be opened in the art. 

Passing by other assailable points of our immemorial system, the distinction, 
implied by its two leading heads, is a misrepresentation. Had he an ear who said 
— a consonant can not be sounded without the help of a vowel 1 

Among the thousand mismanagements of literary instruction, there is at the out- 



ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 53 

As the number of elementary sounds in the English language 
exceeds the literal signs, some of the letters are made to repre- 
sent various sounds, without a rule for discrimination. I shall 
endeavour to supply this want of precision by using short 
words of known pronunciation, containing the elementary 
sounds, with the letters which represent them marked in 
italics. 

The thirty-five elements are now to be considered under 
their relationships to the radical and vanishing movement. 
And as the properties of this function are — prolongation of 
sound, variation of pitch, with initial force and final feeble- 
ness ; these elements should be viewed in their varied capacity 
for admitting the display of these properties. 

Our elements of articulation may be arranged under three 
general heads. 

The first division embraces those sounds which display the 
properties of the radical and vanish in the most perfect man- 
ner. They are twelve in number ; and are heard in the usual 
sound of the separated italics, in the following words : 

t#-ll, a-rt, a-n, a-le, ou-r, isle, o-ld, ee-\, oo-ze, e-rr, 
e-nd, i-n. 

From their forming the purest and most plastic material of 
intonation, I have called them Tonic sounds. 

They consist of different sorts of vocality j by which I mean 
that ' raucus' quality of voice which is contradistinguished 
from a whisper or aspiration. They are produced by the joint 
functions of the larynx and parts of the internal and external 
mouth, through which the air must pass in their formation. 

The tonics have a more musical quality than the other ele- 

set in the horn book, the pretence to represent elementary sounds by syllables com- 
posed of two or more elements, as : Be, Kay, Zed, double U, and Aitch. These 
words are used in infancy, and through life, as simple elements in the process of 
synthetic spelling. If the definition of a consonant was made by the master from 
the practice of the child, it might suggest pity for the pedagogue, but should not 
make us forget the realities of nature. 

Any pronouncing dictionary shows that consonants alone may form syllables ; 
and if they have never been appropriated to words which might stand solitary 
in a sentence like the vowels 'a,' 'i,' 'o,' 'ah' and 'awe' — it is not because 
they can not be so used; but because they have not that full and manageable na- 
ture which exhibits the functions of the unconnected syllable with sufficient em- 
phasis, and with agreeable effect. 



54 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 

ments : they are capable of indefinite prolongation: admit of the 
concrete and tremulous rise and fall through all the intervals 
of pitch : and may be uttered more forcibly than the other 
elementary sounds, as well as with more abruptness : and 
whilst these two last characteristics are appropriate to the na- 
tural fulness and stress of the radical, the power of prolonga- 
tion, upon their pure and musical quality, is finely accommo- 
dated to the delicate structure of the vanishing movement. 

The next division includes a number of sounds, possessing 
variously among themselves properties analogous to those of 
the tonics ; but differing in degree. They amount to fourteen ; 
and are marked by the separated italics, in the following 
words : 

B-ow, e?-are, g-ive, v-tie, z-one, y-e, w-o, th-en, a-z-ure, 
si-ng, l-ove, m-xy, w-ot, r-oe. 

From their inferiority to the tonics, in all the emphatic and 
elegant purposes of speech, whilst they admit of being intonated 
or carried concretely through the intervals of pitch, I have 
called them Subtonic sounds. 

They all have a vocality ; but in some it is combined with 
an aspiration. B, d, g, ng, I, m, n, r, have an unmixed vo- 
cality ; v, z, y, w, th, zh, have an aspiration joined with 
theirs. We have learned that the vocality of the tonics is, in 
each, peculiar in sort. The vocality of some of the subtonics 
is apparently the same ; and among all, it does not differ 
much ; resembling certain five of the tonics, which will 
be designated presently. Like the vocality of the tonics, 
it is formed in the larynx : but instead of passing altogether 
through the mouth, it has its reverberations in the back of the 
mouth, and the cavities of the nose. Some of the subtonic vo- 
calities are purely nasal, as : m, n, ng, b, d, g. The rest are 
partly oral. The nasal are soon silenced by closing the nos- 
trils : the rest are not materially affected by it. The vocality 
of b, d and g may not be immediately apparent to those who 
have not, by practice in the abstract utterance of the alphabet, 
attained the full command of pronunciation. Writers, in 
noticing these letters, have spoken of it under the name of 
' guttural murmur,' and have regarded it as a peculiar sound ; 
whereas it is the identical vocality, heard in v, th-en, z, zh, 
and r, subsequently modified by the contact of organs, into 



ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 55 

the respective individuality of b, d and g. The vocality of 
b, d and g, in ordinary speech, has less time and intensity, 
and is consequently less perceptible than that of v, th-en, z, 
zh and r, but it is the same in kind. It is the vocality alone 
of b that distinguishes it from p. « 

I have enumerated y and w as the initial sounds of 'ye' and 
'wo,' because 'y' is a vocality, like that of the other sub- 
tonics, mixed with an aspiration made over the tongue, when 
raised near the roof of the mouth : and because 'w' is a simi- 
lar vocality mixed with a breathing through an aperture in the 
protruded lips. As b, d, g and zh are made by joining vocali- 
ties, instead of aspirations, with the organic positions of p, t, 
k and sh; so y and w are severally the mixture of vocality 
with the pure aspiration of 'h' as heard in 'he/ and of 
' wh' as heard in ' whirl'd' The addition to the aspiration 
changes these words respectively to ' ye' and ' world. ? 

This vocality of the subtonics, whether pure or mixed, nasal 
or oral, is variously modified by the nose, tongue, teeth and 
lips. For, an entire or partial obstruction of the current of 
breath through the mouth, and a subsequent removal of the ob- 
struction, produces the peculiar sound of the subtonics. Now 
it is in the portion of the subtonic sound, heard after the res- 
toration of the free passage through the mouth, that the char- 
acter of the vocality, in some of these elements, may be most 
easily perceived. This vocula or little voice, if I may so call 
it, is mentioned by writers as being necessary to complete the 
utterance of the class of mutes, so named : but it may be heard 
more or less conspicuously at the termination of all the sub- 
tonics. It is least perceptible in those which have the most 
aspiration. In ordinary utterance it is short and feeble ; and 
is most obvious when employed in forcible or affected pronun- 
ciation. When the subtonics precede the tonics in words, 
they lose this short and feeble termination, and takes in its 
place the full sound of the succeeding tonic, thus producing an 
abrupt opening of the tonic. 

I have called this last vented sound of the subtonics the Vo- 
cule ; and have been thus particular in noticing and naming it, 
because 1 shall hereafter use the term and consider the power 
of the function, in treating of the expression of the voice. 

The five tonic sounds to which the vocalities of the subtonics 



56 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 

bear a resemblance, are ee-1, oo-ze, e-rr, e-nd, i-n. Y-e and 
w-o have respectively something like a nasal echo of ee-1 and 
oo-ze. B, d, g, v y th-en, z, zh and r resemble e-rr ; /, m, 
and n have something of the sound of e-nd ; and ng, of i-n. 

I said the subtonics are subordinate to the tonics in their 
properties and uses. The kind of sound is less agreeable. 
That clearness and brilliancy of the tonics, is obscured in the 
purest of them, and in some it is destroyed, by the aspiration. 
They are severally capable of more or less prolongation, and 
may be carried through the concrete and tremulous variation 
of pitch. None admit of much force in their vocality; nor 
can abruptness be given to them without extraordinary effort. 
Now these last named insufficiencies prevent the subtonics 
from forming, like the tonics, the proper radical movement : 
the characteristic of which consists in its opening full and ab- 
ruptly. When therefore a subtonic precedes a tonic, as in the 
syllable ' vain,' the vocality of * v* compared with ' a' is so 
feeble, that upon a common effort of utterance, it does not ex- 
hibit the strong and sudden opening of the radical. It does 
indeed make part of the syllable, but to whatever degree it 
may be prolonged, it still continues on one line of pitch until 
the tonic ' a' opens and rises with the true character of the ra- 
dical. I do not say, the subtonics can not form radicals, for all 
of them, when separately uttered, may be carried by the con- 
crete movement, through every interval; and even in con- 
junction with tonics, a strenuous effort may give them some- 
what of the radical abruptness. But in ordinary pronunciation, 
they are scarcely appreciated as a part of the initial concrete. 

This want of force and abruptness in a subtonic does not 
prevent it from fulfilling the purpose of the vanish, when it 
succeeds a tonic. Thus in the syllable 'vain,' the 'a,' as we 
have said, begins the radical, and after rising through a por- 
tion of the interval, glides into the subtonic ' n,' which carries 
on and completes the vanish. 

The remaining nine elements are Aspirations, and have not 
that sort of sound which 1 have called vocality. They are 
produced by a current of the whispering breath through cer- 
tain positions of parts, in the internal and external mouth. 
They are heard in the words, 

U-p, ou-/, ar-/fc, \-f, yes, h-e, wh-eat, th-'m, pu-sA. 



ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 57 

From their limited power of variation in pitch, even when 
uttered singly, with the designed effort to produce it, and 
from their supplying no part of the concrete when breathed 
among the constituents of syllables, 1 have called them Atonic 
sounds. 

If any one will take the trouble to compare the mode of 
their production with that of some of the subtonics, he will 
find them respectively identical in all their accidents, except 
that of vocality, which is wanting in the atonies. — 

B. D. G. V. Z. Y. W. Th. Zh. Ng. L. M. N. R. 

I I I II I I I I 
P. T. K. F. S. H. Wh. Th. Sh. 

This whispering imitation is not made on all the subtonics. 
Yet the five exceptions do not altogether destroy the idea, 
that nature has her nisus towards a general rule of duplicature 
in these creations. The m, n, and ng are purely nasal, and 
when their vocality is dropped, the attempt to utter them, by 
the mere breathing of the atonies, produces in each case simi- 
lar snuffling expirations. Yet even this snuffling, though no 
reputed element of speech, is constantly used before the vo- 
cality of n or m or ng, as the inarticulate symbol of a sneer. 
The two remaining subtonics I and r, in perfect English 
speech, are unmatched by atonies. But the aspirated copy of 
the /, produced by a kind of hissing over the moisture of the 
tongue, is not a very uncommon deformity of utterance: and 
a true atonic parallel to the r, heard in what is called ' the 
burr,' is perhaps a still more prevalent defect of utterance. * 

The atonies, from the deficiency which suggested their 
name, afford no basis for the function of the radical and vanish. 
Most of them have a perceptible vocule, which consists in a 
short aspiration like the whispering of e-rr. There is no mu- 
sical quality in their sound. They do furnish time to speech, 
but on a wretched material. Though inferior in most of their 
qualities to the other elements, yet I shall show in treating of 
the expression of speech, that the Aspiration is both signifi- 
cative, and emphatic. 

* Bishop Wilkins, in his ' Essay towards a real character,' has enumerated the 
aspirated/ and r among the provincial vices of speech, and has allotted literal sym- 
bols to them. 

H 



58 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 

The enumeration made under the preceding divisions, in- 
cludes all the elementary sounds of the English language, 
which have been noticed by observant authors. 

There are three of the subtonics and three of the atonies, — 
b, d, g, p, t, and k, that have eminently an explosive charac- 
ter ; the breath bursting out after a complete occlusion. 

From their serving peculiar purposes in speech, I have set 
them in a selected subdivision, and called them Abrupt sounds. 

In the beginning of a syllable they produce a sudden open- 
ing of the succeeding sound ; and at. the end they exhibit their 
final vocule. The office of these abrupt elements, in the art 
of speaking, will be shown in treating of expression. 

The foregoing arrangement of elementary sounds was de- 
vised to display their relationships to intonation. For a closer 
view of this subject, I shall describe particularly the structure 
and functions of the Tonics. This detail was separated from 
the general view, in order to avoid distracting the reader's at- 
tention from the drift of that classification, by the interesting 
development which has been deferred to this place. 

In illustrating the nature of the radical and vanishing move- 
ment, by the tonic a-le, it was stated that this element consists 
of two sorts of sound, and that when uttered with inexpressive 
effort, the voice rises through the interval of a tone ; the radi- 
cal beginning on ' a,' and the vanish diminishing to a close on 
' e. ' Now as all the tonic sounds necessarily pass through the 
radical and vanish, they demand an analysis relatively to that 
concrete function of pitch. 

These seven of the tonic elements, 

a-we, <z-rt, a-n, cs-le, isle, o-ld, ou-r, 
have different sounds for the two extremes of their concrete 
movement. 

The remaining five, 

ee-\, oo-ze, e-rr, e-nd, i-n, 
have each, one unaltered sound throughout their concrete 
movement. 

The tonics are therefore properly divided into Diphthongs 
and Monothongs. 

«/2-we has for its radical, the sound of < a' in awe : and for 
its vanish, a short and obscure sound of the monothong ' e-rr.' 



ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 59 

.#-rt has for its radical the sound of ' a' in art : its vanish like 
that of the preceding, being the monothong 'e-rr.' 

The radical of a-n is the sound of ' a' in an. Its vanish is 
the same in degree and sort with the last. 

The sound of each of these elements has heretofore been con- 
sidered as homogeneous throughout : for their vanish being 
very faint in ordinary utterance, it has escaped perception. 
But it may be heard by using these elements severally, with 
earnest interrogation. They will each terminate at a high 
pitch, in a feeble sound of 'err.' 

«/?-le, I have said before, has its radical, with the distinct 
sound of the monothong ee-l for its vanishing movement. 

/-sle has its radical, followed in like manner by a vanish of 
the monothong ee-l. The dipthongal nature of 'i' has long 
been known, and the discovery of it is attributed to Wallisthe 
grammarian. It is described by Sheridan and others, as con- 
sisting of a-we and ee-l : the coalescence of the two producing 
the peculiar sound of 'i.' In this account, it is admitted that 
the element is peculiar ; I can therefore see no need of refer- 
ence to a-we, in the theory of its causation. A skilful ear will 
readily perceive that the radical of z'-sle is a peculiar tonic, and 
will so report thereon, without having recourse to the absurd 
supposition that an unheard sound is changed into another au- 
dible one. 

O-ld has its radical in the sound of 'o,' formerly supposed 
to be homogeneous. Its vanish is the distinctly audible sound 
of the monothong oo-ze. 

Ou-v has a radical, followed in like manner by a vanish of 
the monothong oo-ze. That the first sound of this diphthongal 
tonic is not 'a-we,' but a radical of its own, may easily be 
proved by a discriminating ear : and a trial with the voice will 
show, that a-we does not unite with oo-ze, by that easy gli- 
ding transition which is heard in the junction of the true radi- 
cal of ou-v with the same oo-ze. 

I have been at a loss what to say of that sound which is sig- 
nified by <oi' and 'oy,' as in ' voice' and 'boy.' It may be 
looked upon as diphthongal tonic, consisting of the radical a-we 
and the vanishing monothong i-n, when the quantity of the 
element is short, and ee-l when long. But from the habit of 
the voice, it is difficult to give a-we without adding its usual 



60 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 

vanish of e-rr ; and this makes the compound, a tripthong. If 
it is taken as a diphthongal tonic, this is the only instance in 
which the same radical has two different vanishes. And though 
this reason should not be conclusive against its classification, it 
suggests an examination of the subject. In case this sound 
should be considered as a true diphthongal tonic, and analogies 
seem in favor of it, it would make the number of tonics thir- 
teen, and the whole of the elements thirty-six. 

The seven radical sounds with their vanishes, which have 
been described, include, as far as I can perceive, all the ele- 
mentary dipthongs of the English language. By the term diph- 
thong, 1 mean the progress of the voice from one tonic sound 
to another ; forming thus the impulse of one syllable, by a con- 
tinuous gliding, without a perceptible change of organic effort, 
in the transition. By the term elementary, as qualifying a 
dipthong, I mean to point out the inseparable bond of its con- 
stituents ; the fate of the voice having so decreed the series of 
the two sounds, that the first or radical can not, in unpremedi- 
tated utterance, be given without terminating in the second or 
vanish. 

The remaining five tonics are monothongs, and have one 
sort of sound for both the radical and vanishing movement. 
They are 

oo-ze, ee-1, e-rr, end, i-n. 

If the element ee-1 be deliberately uttered, in the mode of 
asking a question with earnest surprise, one unvaried sound of 
ee-1, will be heard, rising from the radical outset, to the top of 
the vanish. This concrete rise in interrogation will be descri- 
bed hereafter, as being the interval of a radical and vanishing 
octave ; but the same homogeneous course of ee-1 may be heard 
through the fifth, third, tone and semitone. This mode of dis- 
playing the course of the unchanged concrete in ee-1, will show 
an analogous result in the cases of the four other monothongal 
tonics. Whereas if the diphthongal tonics be uttered with the 
interrogative intonation, the difference between their radical 
and vanishing portions will be at once perceptible. 

Should the means of direct observation here suggested, not 
be satisfactory, I would propose another mode of illustrating 
the nature of the tonics. We learned in the last section, the 
distinction between the equable concrete of speech, and the 



ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 61 

protracted radical and protracted vanish, of song and recitative. 
Now the use of these protracted forms of intonation will exhi- 
bit the structure of the tonic elements. For an attentive ear 
may perceive, when the diphthongs are sung in the last of 
these forms, that the voice quickly leaves the radical, and 
dwells in continuation on the different sound of the vanish. 
The protracted note, in the vanish of the monothongs, will be 
the same in sound as their radicals. The words of an ordinary 
melody in slow time, or any church psalm, will afford proof 
on this point. 

Another mode of illustrating the real diphthongal character of 
seven of the tonics, may be drawn from the phenomena of 
rhyme. Rhyme is that peculiar relationship in the sound of 
syllables, which consists in a difference between the first sound 
of each of the compared syllables, and an identity between all 
the subsequent sounds, each to each : the agreeable effect of 
rhyme depending chiefly on the particular relation between 
the tonic sounds. The first condition is that of identity in the 
tonics, as: dame, came. — The second degree of relationship 
is made by tonics which have a different radical, but the same 
vanishing movement, as : cars, wars. The third consists of 
those tonics that differ both in their radicals and vanishes, yet 
are of nearest resemblance in their sort of sound, as : good, 
blood. 

The use of the second kind of rhyme shows the composi- 
tion of the diphthongal tonics. In the following lines, the cor- 
respondence of oo-ze with o-ld, and of a-\e with ee-1 is admit- 
ted as canonical in rhyming, from the identity of the vanishes 
of a-le and o-ld, respectively with the monothongs ee-1 and 
oo-ze. 

Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom 
Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home ; 
Here thou, great Anna ! whom three realms obey, 
Dost sometimes counsel take — and sometimes tea. 

The assimilation of the sounds of «-le and ee-1, by the iden- 
tity of their vanishes, produces the monotony of the four fol- 
lowing lines. 



62 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 

Swift to the Lock a thousand sprites repair, 
A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; 
And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear ; 
Thrice she looked back, and thrice the foe drew near. 

Besides the differences arising from singleness of sound, and 
diphthongal combination, the tonics exhibit a variety in time, 
both when uttered separately, and in syllabic association. Two 
general divisions may be made : 

a-we, a-rt, a-n, a-le, ee-1, isle, o-ur, oo-ze 
may be called long tonics, and 

e-rr, e-nd, z-n, 
short. It is not to be understood that the latter may not, by 
designed effort, be made as long as the former : they have their 
place in this arrangement, from their usual time in English 
syllables. In the prolongation of i-n, it changes nearly, if not 
entirely, into ee-1. When the long tonics are combined with 
other elements into syllables, their time is of every distinguish- 
able degree, from a momentary impulse, to the longest pas- 
sionate utterance of an interjection, as: from o-tt to o-we — 
from ou-t to h-ow — from «-t to a-h ! — a-te to h-ay — p-ea-t to 
ee-1 — f-oo-t to oo-ze — c-a-rt to p-a-rdon — k-/-te to I. 

The time of the short tonics, in combination, has much less 
variety. But however short any of the tonics may be, they do 
in their minimum duration still pass through the concrete move- 
ment, as will be fairly proved hereafter. 

All the elements, except the abrupt atonies k, p, t, have a 
variety in duration. The vocality of the subtonics affords the 
means of their time, and its prolongation is next in importance 
to that of the tonics, for the purposes of vivid and graceful ex- 
pression. 

If it is asked, why I have designated the diphthongs as ele- 
mentary, each of which may be resolved into greater simpli- 
city ; it may be answered, that the diphthongs, though com- 
pounded of two successive sounds, are inseparable in utterance : 
and regarding elements as simple efforts of the voice, these 
diphthongs may be ranked among them. I can not pronounce 
the radical of a diphthong without giving also its vanish. The 
radical may indeed be indefinitely sustained ; but it can be ter- 
minated only by a glide through its second sound, which, how- 



ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 63 

ever quick or feeble, may still be heard. In the equable con- 
crete of speech, the rapid pronunciation of a diphthong may- 
diminish the audibility of its second sound, but to an attentive 
ear it will not be altogether lost. And further, not only does 
the radical of a diphthong demand its own peculiar vanish, but 
it can not itself be carried through a given interval without sli- 
ding into that vanish. For when we attempt to lead the voice 
through an octave on the diphthong ' a-we' or ' a-le,' its radi- 
cal may be continued up to the seventh of the scale: still the 
final close on the eighth will unavoidably turn to * e-rr' or *. ee-\. 
A similar change will take place on all smaller intervals, in an 
endeavour to make monothongs of the diphthongal radicals. 

If an elementary character be denied to the diphthongs, by 
regarding them as separable sounds, it will not increase the 
number of simple tonics beyond twelve: for the reader may 
have already remarked that the vanishing movements of the 
diphthongs consist exclusively of the monothongs. 

It follows, from what has been said on the indivisible nature 
of the diphthongs, that their radicals can not be united with any 
other vanishes, than those apparently allotted in the instinctive 
ordination of the voice : and notwithstanding all that has been 
observed, assumed and transcribed by writers, on the subject 
of the diphthongal union of the vowels, I believe that the only 
instances of that union, admitted in the habits of English 
speech, are those here enumerated. Every attempt to make 
further combinations produces a voice which wants the smooth 
transition and singleness of syllabic impulse, that characterizes 
a diphthong, and which is found with its defined perfection, 
only in the double sound of the above named seven elementary 
tonics. 

I have enumerated all the diphthongal tonics which are used 
in the English language. As they are individually produced 
by joining a monothong to a radical tonic, if I may so call it, 
and as all the permutations of union are not employed, it is a 
curious subject of inquiry, — whether it is within the possibility 
of the vocal organs to make a greater number of diphthongs, 
by uniting, severally, every monothong with each radical tonic. 
Now as there are seven radicals and five monothongs, we 
might upon this scheme have thirty-five diphthongs. But it 
appears we have only eight (supposing, oi to be included :) 



64 ALPHABETIC ELEMENTS. 

fl-we being combinable with two monothongs, and each of the 
others with one. Other conjunctions may be made ; but they 
have not a fluent transition, like those which already belong 
to the language and have their literal signs. Would these new 
associations require a management of voice which is not alto- 
gether instinctive, and might therefore call for a practice and 
skill not yet reached by the English tongue? Have any of 
these supposed diphthongs been admitted among the alphabetic 
elements of other nations ? And are these unused materials of 
speech to be classed with those resources in the animal econo- 
my, which are to afford their benefits under higher cultivation, 
and the widening demands of human improvement ? 

In elucidating this subject of the tonics it is worthy of re- 
mark, that we may consider the diphthongs as mere syllables, 
compounded of a tonic and subtonic. For it is certain that the 
monothongs, when used as vanishes to the radical tonics, have 
in some degree the character of subtonics : that is, they lose 
the fulness of the radical opening which they have, when ut- 
tered by themselves. The vanish of a-le is very nearly allied 
to 'y-e' if not identical with it ; and the vanish of ou-r bears as 
near a relation to ' w-o.' It will be evident too on trial, that if 
a radical character is given to these vanishes, they will not 
unite with the previous radical into one impulse of the voice. 

It was said, in a former part of this section, that the subto- 
nics may be uttered separately : their own obscure vocalities 
bearing, respectively, some resemblance to those of the five 
monothongs. 1 now add that some syllables are formed ex- 
clusively of subtonics. In the words ' bidden, ' fickle, ' schism,' 
* rhythm,' ' riven,' and their congeners, the last syllable is 
purely subtonic, or a combination of subtonic and atonic. On 
these final syllables the radical and vanishing movement is per- 
formed : and though they exhibit the concrete function, they 
betray their inferiority in abruptness, force and musical sound, 
when compared with the more perfect display of these quali- 
ties, on the tonics. The reason why words of this Construc- 
tion are necessarily divided into two syllables, will appear in 
the following section. 



THE DOCTRINE OF SYLLABICATION. 65 



SECTION IV. 

Of the influence of the Concrete Movement, in the produc- 
tion of the various phenomena of Syllables. 

The foregoing history of elementary sounds and of the radical 
and vanishing function, will enable us to lay open the doctrine 
of Syllabication. 

What are the operations of the voice that produce the char- 
acteristics of syllables ? 

What determines their length ? 

Why are syllables limited in length, otherwise than by the 
term of expiration : and what produces the ordinary length of 
them, where there is no obstruction to the further continuation 
of the sound of tonic and subtonic elements ? 

And, finally, what prescribes the rule which ordains but one 
accent to a syllable ? 

I shall endeavour to answer these questions concisely and in 
their order. 

Those portions of voice which, alone or as constituent parts 
of words, are called syllables, are the effects of the radical and 
vanishing movement : and 1 shall aim to show that every syl- 
lable, consisting of one or more elementary sounds, derives its 
character of length and singleness of impulse, from the concrete 
movement, and from the different properties of tonic, subtonic, 
and atonic elements. As I can not give the reader vocal ex- 
emplification of this subject, the argument contained in the fol- 
lowing inferences must be illustrated by his own experimental 
trials. 

If the concrete movement of the voice through a tone or 
other interval, is the essential function of a syllable, it follows 
that each of the tonic sounds may by itself make a syllable : 
since these can not be pronounced singly, without going 
through the radical and vanishing movement. Now the tonics, 
either in the form of words or as interjective particles, are often 
employed as mono-literal syllables. 
I 



66 THE DOCTRINE 

It follows also from the assumed causation of a syllable, that 
two tonics can not be united into one vocal impulse. For each 
having by nature its own radical and vanish, they must produce 
two syllables. Consistently with this, we find that whenever 
two elementary tonics are in sequence, they always belong to se- 
parate syllables in pronunciation. 

If the concrete function of the voice alone constitutes a syllable, 
it follows that the atonies, from being incapable of that func- 
tion, can not make a new and distinct impulse when joined 
with the tonics. The word 'speaks' exhibits the meaning of 
this inference. For the syllabic function, as I suppose it to be, 
is here made on the tonic ee-1, whilst s, p, k and s, add to the 
time, but do not destroy the monosyllabic character of that 
word. The sound is not indeed so gliding and equable as on a 
single tonic, which shows a syllable in its purest form : yet 
the slight obstruction to the singleness of impulse is very dif- 
ferent from the threefold emphatic division heard in the word 
1 Ohio' — For if this be properly pronounced, that is, if each of 
the three tonics receive its radical and vanish, it will be im- 
possible to condense them into one impulse or syllable. In 
answer to the first question, then, — It is the concrete move- 
ment of the elementary sounds, or the radical and vanishing 
function of the voice, which produces the characteristics of 
those successive impulses of speech called syllables. 

Syllables are of different lengths. Is this an arbitrary varia- 
tion : or is it the unavoidable product of the properties of the 
elementary sounds? 

This question is not asked in reference to prosodial quanti- 
ties ; nor to those abridgments and prolongations of voice that 
appropriately mark the force and solemnity of oratorical ex- 
pression. It regards especially the variation of length in syl- 
lables, which is unalterably created by their literal constituents; 
for it will be shown that their limits are determined by the 
arrangement of these. 

In order to render this subject perspicuous, let us take a 
synthetic view of the literal series in words. 

Several of the tonics individually form English syllables : 
and these exhibit the syllabic impulse of the radical and vanish 
in its most simple condition. But elements can not be com- 
pounded, with a view to lengthen a syllable, by the addition 



OF SYLLABICATION. 67 

of one tonic to another ; tor this would produce a new and se- 
parate impulse. 

If to the element a-le the atonic ' f ' be prefixed, the sylla- 
ble ' fa' will be formed, with the concrete rise on ' a' pre- 
ceded by the aspiration. If to these the atonic ' c' be sub- 
joined, the word 'face' will be longer than the element * a;' 
still the triple compound will be but one syllable, since it can 
have only one concrete rise. For though these two atonies 
may be clearly heard, as part of the length of the syllable, yet 
being incapable of the concrete function, the transition through 
the given interval is made altogether on ' a,' as if the word 
consisted of that element alone. The addition of atonies to 
tonics, is then the first mode of increasing the length of a sylla- 
ble, without destroying its singleness of impulse. 

Further, if to the tonic 'a' the subtonic '1' be prefixed, 
the syllable ' la' will be longer than 'a' but will still have 
but one function of the radical and vanish. For I said formerly, 
that when a subtonic is uttered before a tonic, the vanish of 
the subtonic does not occur : its radical continuing on a level 
line of pitch, till the tonic opens on that line with a more em- 
phatic radical, and immediately carries up the concrete of the 
syllable. Now in the syllable 'la,' ' 1' doesbegin the impulse 
with its vocality, and without perceptibly rising, joins the voca- 
lity of ' a' which forms the full emphatic radical, and then va- 
nishes on the ' e' of that diphthongal element. If to ' la' the 
subtonic 'v' be subjoined, the compound * lave' will be much 
longer than ' a ;' and its syllabic character will still be preserved, 
by the singleness of its radical and vanishing movement. In 
the pronunciation of 'lave,' the intonation of '1' and 'a' 
will be as before, except that ' a' will not now rise quite so 
far through the concrete : for a subtonic having all the proper- 
ties of a vanish, ' v' will in this case fall in with ' a' before 
it reaches the top of the interval, and thus complete the vanish 
of the syllable. The junction of subtonic elements to tonics, 
is therefore a second mode of adding to the length of syllables, 
without destroying the unity of the radical and vanishing con- 
crete . 

Moreover, if the abrupt element ' t' be prefixed to < a' the 
syllable ' ta,' so formed, will be but a single impulse. If ' g' 
be subjoined, the word ' tag' will still exhibit only one radi- 



68 THE DOCTRINE 

cal and vanish. If in this manner two abrupt atonies, are 
joined with the short tonics, as in 'cut,' 'pet,' ' tik,' they 
produce the shortest syllables in the language : in which the 
concrete movement, however short, is still performed. This 
union of abrupt elements with tonics, is a third mode of preserv- 
ing the singleness of a syllable, with the variation of its length. 
The three different sorts of combination enumerated above, 
produce their various lengths, in the manner represented by 
the examples under each head. But none of them can be much 
extended beyond the instances given, whilst they are restricted 
to the kind of elements noted in their respective cases. 

A fourth mode of combining elements is by a union of all the 
four kinds in one syllable. For the illustration of this, it is 
necessary to bear in mind, that whenever there is a pause after 
asubtonic, consequently whenever it is uttered singly or at the 
end of a syllable, it unavoidably takes on the concrete move- 
ment : and that the same condition occurs if it is followed by 
an atonic ; for in this case there is a termination of vocality. 
If we analyze the words 'strange,' (properly strandzh) and 
'strength,' and the imaginary syllable ' sglivzd,' we shall 
find that but one radical and vanishing movement is perform- 
ed on each of them : and that the singleness of impulse is made 
by the peculiar arrangement of all the kinds of elements. They 
consist of seven sounds, which is the greatest number that the 
nature of the elements admits of, even with the best contrived 
mode of combination. The radical and vanish of these sylla- 
bles are made on 'ange,' "eng' and ' ivzd,' and the principle 
of the vocal management of the other elements is analogous in 
each: for 'r'and'l' being subtonics respectively before the 
tonics a-le, e-nd, and isle, do not take on the concrete. ' T' be- 
ing an abrupt atpnic, adds nothing to the vocality of 'r,' and 
the preceding atonic f s' having no concrete function, the 
three elements ' s,' 't' and 'r, ? together with ' th' in 
'strength,' and the 'g' and '1' in the imaginary syllable, 
increase the length of the several words without destroying 
the unity of their impulses. The constituents in each of the 
above words may be combined into one syllable, in other 
series : but in all cases, the atonies must be on the extremes. 
If it is otherwise, as in the arrangement ' rstange,' the whole 
can not be pronounced as one syllable. For since the vocality 



OF SYLLABICATION. 69 

of ' r,' ceases on account of the subsequent atonic ' s,' this 
< r' must take on the concrete movement, and thus become a 
syllable. The reader may remember that it was^said, the sub- 
tonics are capable of the radical and vanish when uttered sepa- 
rately : and the termination of their sound by an atonic, 
amounts to this condition. 

I have thus endeavoured to show, that the various lengths 
of syllables depend on the nature of the constituent elements, 
and the disposition of them, as regards the execution of the 
radical and vanish. 

The following notation may serve to illustrate the preced- 
ing account of the structure of syllables. I here represent the 
movement of a third ; but the mode is the same, in all intervals. 
The dotted line represents the" atonic sound. The thick black 
line united to the radical denotes the pitch of the subtonic, 
when it precedes a tonic : and the full black point, with its 
appendage, signifies the tonic alone, or the tonic in combina- 
tion with the vanishing subtonic. 





OS 
























3 

OQ 

< 


B 
■3 


d 

'2 

O 


o 

"3 

o 

< 


'% 


rn 

o 




o 

'S 


s 


xn 
o 

'3 

w 


'S 

o 

E-i 

< 


'% 


< 


L , 


/ 






1. 


J 


n 


-J 


'1 


-J\ 


! J 


1 


J 



A-e FAe FA-e-s LA-e LA-e-v TA-e TA-ek 

A combination of each of the The double syllabic 

species of elements. impulse by change. 



c 



Strandzh Strength K-i standzh 



In this notation, the atonic sounds are represented by the 
dotted lines, as if they had a certain place in pitch ; but being 
mere aspirations, their place is in no appreciable relation to the 
tonics and subtonics : and I beg that the reader may so under- 
stand the notation, where the atonic symbols are used to show 
the presence of the aspirated voice. 

If the principle of syllabication consists in a simple pause of 
the voice, or any other mode of sound than that which I have in- 
sisted on, a syllable might contain an indefinite number of 



70 THE DOCTRINE 

tonic sounds, combined with such other elements as have no 
occlusion : and consequently the length of the syllable would 
be limited only by the time of expiration. But from the in- 
fluence of the radical and vanish, in the utterance of the com- 
mon aggregates of elementary sounds, the duration of a sylla- 
ble is quickly arrested. There are twelve tonics ; fourteen 
subtonics ; nine atonies ; and six abrupt elements. Twelve of 
these, the nine atonies and the three abrupt subtonics, being 
productive of an interruption to the continuity of the syllabic 
impulse, the mingling of all the elements must give one of these 
a position in every third or fourth place among the tonics and 
subtonics, and thereby set a limit to the duration of syllabic 
sound. Sometimes this interruption produces syllables of two 
elements only : and it has never, 1 believe, in the English lan- 
guage, allowed any syllable in use, to extend beyond seven. 

The reason why the words ' strange' and I strength' can 
not be made longer without more than ordinary effort, is this : 
— The tonic elements can not be added for this purpose, since 
each of them always makes either the whole or part of a sepa- 
rate syllable. Nor will these words bear a subtonic at the be- 
ginning : for as ' s' is an atonic, any subtonic uttered before 
it must come to a pause, must therefore go through its vanish, 
and thus produce a separate syllable. An atonic being pre- 
fixed to these words would not indeed make a new concrete ; 
but it would produce a varying effort of hissing and aspiration, 
which would bear no analogy to the audible and gliding nature 
of tonic and subtonic syllabication. 

In answer then to the question, — why syllables are not con- 
tinued to the utmost length of an act of expiration, it has been 
shown that as speech employs all the elements, the abrupt and 
atonic must necessarily divide the time of one expiration, into 
different syllabic impulses. 

In any number of elementary sounds, let us now suppose the 
atonic and abrupt to be rejected, and consequently the last 
mentioned cause of limitation to be removed. Why is it im- 
possible in this case to give indefinite length to a syllable, 
formed by the union of a tonic with any number of subtonics ? 
— Or, why is such a syllable otherwise limited, than by the 
exhaustion of expiration ? 

When a tonic precedes a subtonic, in the formation of any 






OF SYLLABICATION. 71 

concrete interval, it gives up a portion of its movement to that 
subtonic, which then carries on and completes the vanish. 
In this way the radical and vanish may consist of a tonic and 
one, two, three, or at most four subtonics. But the number 
can not, in easy pronunciation, be extended beyond these. 
Thus in the syllable 'strandzh' (strange) the concrete rise 
begins on 'a,' and continuing through 'n,' <d' and <zh,' 
vanishes on this last. If two more subtonics ' v' and < m' 
were subjoined to this word, as in 'strandzhvm,' few 
speakers could make one pure syllabic impulse of the combi- 
nation. The reason of this difficulty, or as we may call it, 
impossibility, will appear in the following remarks. 

In the most general use of the voice, the concrete rises 
through the interval of a tone, and employs therein a certain 
portion of time. Now though the tone and time may be exe- 
cuted on one tonic combined with several subtonics ; yet there 
is a maximum to the number, utterable by an easy effort of 
speech. For as each constituent must have a certain duration, 
to render it cognizable as a variation of pitch, and to ensure a 
distinct pronunciation, it must consume a portion of the time 
of the concrete : and it is plain from experience that each con- 
stituent does consume so much, that not more than four sub- 
tonics, together with the preceding tonic, can in easy utter- 
ance be compressed into the time and space of the radical and 
vanish. 

In describing the concrete, we pointed out three modes of 
this function, — its equable progress, and the prolongation of 
its radical, and of its vanish. When a combination of tonics 
and subtonics, greater than can be used for one concrete, is 
offered for pronunciation, one of two things must occur : 
either two syllables must be formed by two separate concretes, 
or some one or more of the numerous constituents must be pro- 
longed on one line of pitch. And though this last mode of ut- 
terance would not necessarily produce two syllables, yet by 
assuming the characteristic note of song, it would be very dif- 
ferent from the equable effect of the true syllabic concrete. 

I have thus endeavoured to show why, in ordinary speech, 
syllables can not be indefinitely extended when they consist 
only of tonic and subtonic sounds, and consequently when 



72 THE DOCTRINE 

there is no obstruction to their continuation, by the interposi- 
tion of abrupt and atonic elements. 

A further consideration of the radical and vanishing move- 
ment, will inform us why there is, ordinarily, but one effort 
of accentual stress on each syllable. I will show hereafter 
that there are six modes in which the force called Accent can 
be laid on the concrete. First, by the abrupt explosion of the 
radical. Secondly, by giving more force to the middle of the 
concrete. Thirdly, by greater stress on the vanishing portion. 
Fourthly, by making the whole concrete of the same fulness 
that naturally belongs to the radical. Fifthly, by magnifying, 
so to speak, the whole of the concrete ; the proportional forces 
of the radical and vanish remaining unaltered. Sixthly, by an 
abrupt stress on the radical, together with increased force on 
the vanish of the same concrete. The first five of these modes 
do not alter the singleness of the accentual impression. Some- 
thing like an exception to the rule of a single accent, seems to 
exist in the sixth, as will be particularly noticed under the fu- 
ture head of Expression : — but this condition, if an exception 
at all, is not of common occurrence, and is by no means con- 
templated here, in looking at the ordinary phenomena of sylla- 
bic speech. 

From what has been said upon the construction of syllables, 
the reader will no doubt perceive the causes of their difference 
in degree, as regards agreeableness of sound, and the gliding 
continuity of voice. The most eminent on these points are 
those formed by a single tonic : and although the concrete rise of 
a diphthong consists of two dissimilar sounds, it is not inferior, in 
the above named qualities, to the uniform voice of a mono- 
thong. 

The next condition of the syllable is that formed by an ini- 
tial tonic, followed by one or two subtonics, as : 'aim,' 'ale,' 
'arm,' 'earn,' 'elm,' 'orle.' These have an easy mingling 
of their constituents ; and their tonic commencement allows an 
equable concrete movement from the opening to the close of 
the syllable. 

The equable progress is, to a certain degree, impaired in 
that order of syllables, in which the first sound is a subtonic, 
as in 'mains,' 'gale,' ' warms,' ' zearn,' 'realm.* Now since 
the radical in these cases does not properly begin on the first 



OF SYLLABICATION. 73 

element, there is a slight Note or level line of pitch on the 
subtonic which precedes the tonic. 

The next of the syllabic combinations are those which 
contain each of the three kinds of elements, as 'swarms,' 
'strength,' 'thrown,' 'smiles.' Here the atonic sounds are 
not agreeable. They prevent the equability of the concrete 
movement; and though they do not destroy the singleness of 
impulse, they are attended with some hiatus from the changes 
of position in the organs which produce them. 

A few syllables, such as the last of ' little,' are made of sub- 
tonics and atonies, without the addition of a tonic. They are 
destitute of force and fulness in the radical opening. They 
have the nasal kind of vocality, which belongs to the subto- 
nics: and it is most remarkable in these syllables, because here 
it is not covered by the clear laryngeal sound of the tonics. 

There are various degrees in the smoothness of the syllabic 
impulse, from the clear transition of the diphthongal tonics 
'a' and 'awe,' to the two concretes of a dissyllable. The 
words 'flower,' 'higher,' 'boy,' 'voice,' and 'coin,' by a 
slight variation in effort, may each be uttered either as one or 
as two syllables. Under the first condition, they seem seve- 
rally to consist of the union of two tonics in one syllable, 
which I have said is impossible. If ' flower' is pronounced 
with the glide of a single impulse, it must be upon the ele- 
ments, f, I, ou, and r, and this exhibits no inconsistency with 
our proposed doctrine of syllables. If the tonic e-rr be sound- 
ed before r, it will be impossible to avoid the double impulse. 

I have considered a syllable as essentially a function of the 
radical and vanish ; and this function is equally productive of 
the syllabic impulse, in a downward as in an upward direction. 
I shall show in a future section, when the reader is prepared 
to understand the explanation, that the unity of the syllable is 
not destroyed by a movement of the voice, through a contin- 
uity of the upward and downward concrete. 

The preceding history enables us to explain many causes 
which must remain hidden to a less searching analysis. Upon 
our principles of syllabication we may account for the disa- 
greeable effect, produced both in the organs of utterance and 
on the ear by the use of the indefinite article 'a' before a vow- 
el (or tonic,) and by other similar successions as in ' aorta.' 
K 



74 THE DOCTRINE 

If we utter the tonics in series, we may in a certain manner 
pass from one to the other without a break, and without the 
point of junction being appreciable. In this case, the elements 
are joined to each other by the mediation of the subtonic 'y-e.' 
But in this continuous mode of utterance, there is an absence 
of that fulness and abruptness which forms, in its proper place, 
the character of the tonic radical ; since abruptness always re- 
quires a previous occlusion of the voice. When a continuation 
of vocality is made from a subtonic to a tonic, the effect is dif- 
ferent : for the subtonics having more or less occlusion, and a 
vocule more or less distinct, means are afforded, by this occlu- 
sion and by the outset of this vocule, for the formation of the 
abrupt sound of the tonic ; and consequently a true radical may 
be made on a tonic which is continuous with a preceding sub- 
tonic. Now when the article ' a' is made to coalesce with a 
tonic at the beginning of a word, an unpleasant perception 
arises from a want of the radical fulness in that initial tonic. 
If, however, the article is pronounced separately, in order 
- that the initial tonic may have its full radical opening after the 
pause, the unpleasant effect will be avoided, though the pro- 
nunciation will be necessarily slower. In this way, 'a, — owl* 
and e a, — age' are as unexceptionable, as ' an owl' and ' an age'. 
The junction of the < n' with a tonic (and the same is true of 
all the subtonics) produces an agreeable coalescence, from the 
slight occlusion between them : whilst the union of the vanish 
of one tonic with the radical of another, creates a disagreeable 
effort in the organs, and produces an unpleasant impression on 
the ear. This hiatus, as it is termed, is caused by a deficiency 
in the fulness of the radical; by an endeavour to supply this 
deficiency and yet at the same time to pass quickly from tonic 
to tonic; and by the disappointment of the ear, in not receiv- 
ing the impression of the element, as it is heard in the same 
word on other occasions. We can not then in a continuous 
course of tonic utterance, produce that desirable radical ab- 
ruptness, which is easily accomplished when the tonics are 
pronounced with a pause between them, or after those slight 
natural pauses or occlusions which belong to the subtonics. 

The hiatus accompanying the junction of one tonic with 
another, will be less remarkable when the last receives no ac- 
centual stress. Thus it is less in * a account' than in ' a acci- 



OF SYLLABICATION. 75 

dent :" for in the first example, a full degree of radical ab- 
ruptness in the tonic 'a' is not required. 

It is upon the principle of the syllabic agency of the radical 
and vanish, that the passed time and perfect participle of some 
verbs ending in ' ed,' when contracted into one syllable by 
rejecting the tonic 'e,' change 'd' into ' t,' as: snatched 
snatch't; passed pass't; stopp't ; check't. For if the 'e' be 
dropped, the'd' which remains having a vocality, and pos- 
sessing as a subtonic the power of a concrete movement, it 
must, when preceded by an abrupt or atonic element, as in the 
above instances, exhibit a radical and vanish, and consequent- 
ly must make a syllable, in place of that made on 'ed ;' which, 
by the proposition, was to be rejected. But if the abrupt 
atonic ' t' is substituted for < d,' that element may be retained 
without destroying the singleness of the syllabic impulse. 

Those irregular verbs which, by contraction, have their pre- 
sent and past times and perfect participle alike, are generally 
found to end in <t,' as: beat, hurt, let, left. The economy 
of utterance or the occasions of poetical measure, producing a 
contraction of the regular form of ' beat beated beated,' which 
we may suppose to have been the original structure of the 
verb, the operation of the radical and vanish in syllabication 
does not allow the contraction to be made by the mere elision 
of 'e. ' For upon this elision, 'beated,' can be changed to 
one syllable, as we have seen above, only by substituting the 
atonic 't' for the subtonic 'd,' as in 'beat't,' — and this dif- 
fers so slightly from ' beat' that this single word would be 
used as the inflection of the verb, and as the participle. 

I might still further apply the foregoing principles, in the 
explanation of many apparent anomalies in speech, which have 
hitherto passed without scrutiny or without satisfactory inter- 
pretation. But I have already exceeded my original inten- 
tion, in planning the subject of this section ; and must therefore 
leave other particulars, to the observation and reflection of the 
reader. Perhaps I do not exceed the bounds of reasonable 
anticipation, when I foresee his rising interest in this history 
of the voice. But all these things, and more too that I shall 
tell, may be made by him, to seem only like the preface to a 
full knowledge of this subject, — if he will adopt the mode of 
inquiry which has thus far assisted me : — if he will become 



76 THE MECHANISM 

the spy upon nature, through his own watchfulness, and not 
draw too much from the precarious source of authority : — if 
he will turn from those discouraging prospects, presented by 
the result of every attempt to make knowledge out of notions; 
and by entering into sober communion with his own senses, 
lay himself open to the advising of those five ministers of 
knowledge, appointed by nature for his counseling in all truth. 






SECTION V. 



Of the Causative Mechanism of the voice, — in relation to 
its different Qualities. 



A description of the different sorts of sound of the human 
voice, without an exemplification by actual utterance, is al- 
ways insufficient and often unintelligible. With a view to fa- 
cilitate instruction, it is desirable to discover the mechanical 
movements of the organs, and the mode of action of the air 
upon them ; that a reference to the conformations and changes 
of the organs and to the impulses of the air, may enable any 
one to have a precise perception of the nature of described 
sounds, by using the known physical means which produce 
them. 

The result of physiological inquiry on this subject is not sa- 
tisfactory. It has happened unfortunately that most physiolo- 
gists have been public teachers, appointed to stations of influ- 
ence, and directed by the rules of their office, to instruct with- 
out having the time or ability or disposition to investigate. 
Their condition has obliged them to compile without choice, 
to define and arrange without reflection, and to affect an origi- 
nality which may have been forbidden by the frame of their 



OF THE VOICE. 77 

minds, or the multiplicity of their duties. From these pro- 
fessorial instructors, the covered movements of the organs of 
speech, seem to cut off the means of observation ; and whilst 
they have feigned themselves under obligation to teach what 
they had never learned, they have endeavoured to elude the 
difficulty, by framing some of th«se works of fancy which the 
craft of mastership long ago devised, for satisfying the cravings 
of undiscerning youth. The puerile wishes of the scholar have 
been respectfully regarded by the teacher; and knowledge un- 
der his hands, has frequently been rather a picture of the pu- 
pil's anticipations, than the truth, and nothing but the truth of 
nature. 

There are few confirmed opinions among writers, on the 
mechanism of the voice ; and by the duties of philosophy, we 
are bound to acknowledge much ignorance on this subject. We 
know that the voice is made by the passage of air through the 
larynx and cavities of the mouth and nose. From experiments 
on the human larynx, and from observations upon the vocal 
functions of dogs, by exposing the organs in the living animal, 
it is inferred with great probability, that the production of 
voice is connected with the vibration of the ligaments of the 
glottis. We have no precise knowledge of the causes of Pitch ; 
its formation having been by authors differently attributed — 
to the contraction of the glottis, — the shortening of its chords, — 
their altered degrees of tension, — the varying velocity of the 
current of air through the aperture of the glottis, — the rise and 
fall of the whole larynx and the consequent variation of length 
in the vocal avenues, between the glottis and the external limit 
of the mouth and of the nose, — and finally, to the influence of 
a union of two or more of these causes. Nor are we acquainted 
with the mechanisms which respectively produce those varieties 
of sound called the Natural voice, Whisper, and Falsette. 
Each of these varieties has received some theoretic explanation ; 
and their locality has, without much precision, been severally 
assigned to the chest, throat and head. 

These discordant and fictional accounts have been in some 
measure the consequence of conceiting a resemblance, between 
the organs of the voice and common instruments of music : and 
whilst those fluctuations of opinion which never belong to 
truth, have represented the vocal mechanism to be like that of 



78 THE MECHANISM 

mouthed or reeded or stringed instruments, the spirit of these 
unfounded or still incomplete analogies has been carried to the ' 
outrage of all similitude, by comparing the track of the fauces, 
mouth and nose, to the body of a flute ; and by ascribing a want 
of accuracy in intonation to an inequality of tension between 
what are called the ' strings of the glottis.' We are too much 
disposed to measure the resources of nature, by the limited in- 
ventions of art. The forms of matter, which jointly with the 
motion of air, may produce sound, must be innumerable; and 
there certainly is no great comprehensiveness of inquiry, in 
that view of the mechanism of the human voice which regards 
only the functions of those few forms that have received the 
names of ' musical instruments.' 

The illustrations which these analogies are supposed to afford, 
are no more than resting places for the mind in the perplexed 
pursuit of truth. The physiologists of antiquity thought they 
explained the mysteries of the voice when they compared the 
trachea to a flute ; and science reposed from the time of Galen, 
to that of Dodart and Ferrein in the eighteenth century, on the 
satisfaction produced by this fancy. The means of illustration 
have followed the fashion of instruments, and of late years the 
chords of the aeolian harp and the reed of the hautboy, have 
furnished mechanical pictures of the organs of voice. One can 
not say positively, that a resemblance of the mechanism of the 
voice, to some known instrument of music, may not be proved 
hereafter ; but cautious reflection will guard us against surprise 
on a future discovery, that in most points, the functions of the 
two cases are totally dissimilar. Before the use of the balloon 
for the support and progression of men upon the air, no one 
ever imagined the possibility of his flight, through any other 
instrumentality than that of wings. 

The history of the voice consists of some due experiment 
and observation, and of inferences from the principles of mu- 
sical instruments applied without much precision to the human 
organs. We seem to have been so entirely convinced of the 
analogy between these cases, and have relied so implicitly on 
systems constructed upon it, that we have forgotten the im- 
portance of unbiased observation. The vanity of fancying 
knowledge completed, and despair in thinking it unattainable 
are equally adverse to the efforts of improvement. The pure 



OF THE VOICE. 79 

and transcendant spirit of Baconian science, directs us by its 
productive rules, to record all the phenomena of the voice ; 
and requires us to know resemblances and differences, not to 
imagine them. There is no doing without the counseling of 
analogies, in investigating the processes of nature. With pe- 
culiar adaptation to a varied purpose, they are the happy in- 
struments of genius, both for hewing out and for finishing 
truth : but they should never be confounded with the objects, 
which they are intended merely to shape and to decorate. In 
the present inquiry, it might be proper to take into considera- 
tion all the artificial instruments of sound ; but when a strict 
use of the senses can not prove a similarity of function between 
them and the organs of voice, it can be no benefit to retain as 
parts of a science, those means which have been used in unsuc- 
cessful attempts to discover its truth. 

When I speak of our ignorance of the mechanical causes of 
the different kinds of voice and of their pitch, I beg to be 
clearly understood. To know a thing as this phrase is applied 
in most of the subjects of human inquiry, is to have that opinion 
of its nature, which authority, analogical argument, and partial 
observation, prompted by various motives of vanity or interest 
may create. To know in natural philosophy, we must employ 
our senses and contrive experiments on the subject of inquiry ; 
and admit no belief of it which may not at any time be illustrated 
by demonstration. Physiology is too full of the first of these 
modes of logic : and no branch exhibits it more conspicuously 
than that of the mechanism of the huma^ voice. One, from 
the analogy of musical strings, says that Pitch is produced by 
the varied tension of the chords of the glottis ; without satis- 
factorily showing in what manner the degrees of tension are 
correspondent to the degrees of pitch in the human voice. — 
Another teaches that the vibration of these cords performs the 
same function as the reed of the hautboy ; without a further 
explanation of the mode in which this laryngeal reed effects 
all the degrees of intonation. Whilst a third ascribes the pitch 
of the falsette to the agency of the base of the tongue, the arch 
of the fauces, the soft palate and the uvula ; without satisfying 
the doubt, that these varied and flexible structures have indi- 
vidually or collectively any fixed relationship to the current of 
respiration, in the production of that pitch. 



80 THE MECHANISM 

When therefore we seek to know the mechanism of the 
voice, it should be to see, or to be truly told, by those who 
have seen, the whole process of the action of the air on the 
vocal organs, in the production of the quality, force, pitch, 
and articulation of speech. This method, and this alone, pro- 
duces permanent knowledge ; and elevates our belief above 
the condition of vulgar opinion and sectarian dispute. The 
visibility of most of the parts concerned in Articulation has 
long since produced among physiologists, some agreement as 
to its causes. But after all 1 have been able to see or learn on 
the subject of Quality and Pitch, I must fairly confess an entire 
ignorance of the mode of their mechanical production : and 
the great difference on this point among authors has never im- 
pressed me with much respect towards their opinions. 

As this section is addressed principally to physiologists, 1 
have omitted a description of the organs of the voice, since it 
may be found in all the manuals of anatomy : and 1 can see no 
use in repeating here an account of structures and actions, when 
we know not what vocal effect those actions produce. The 
general statement of our problem is, that — some part or parts 
of the vocal canal produce all the phenomena of the voice. 
Now when discovery shall point out the efficient parts and the 
mode of their action, then it will be the duty of anatomy to 
describe. their internal organization, and motive powers, that 
the whole may be made a permanent subject of science. Ana- 
tomy is truly the foundation of physiological science ; but ob- 
servation of the liv#g functions has, I believe, always thrown 
the first light upon its various branches. It has been the part 
of anatomy to confirm or complete our knowledge of them ; 
agreeably to the saying of the Greek philosophy that, — what is 
first to nature in the work of creation is the last to man in the 
labour of inquiry. With regard to the mechanism of the voice, 
we are yet occupied with the perplexities of analysis ; when 
that work shall be finished, we may begin again with muscles, 
cartilages, ligaments, mucous tissues and the os hyoides, and 
describe the whole with the synthetic steps of natural causa- 
tion. 

In the meantime, I can not so far follow the example of sys- 
tem-makers and professors, as to furnish an account of the me- 
chanism of the voice, solely because it is desirable and may 



OF THE VOICE. 81 

be looked for. Aiming in this work to serve truth with my 
senses, I shall describe what is distinguishable by the ear in 
the different kinds of voice, together with the visible structure 
and movement of the organs ; in the hope that by an acknow- 
ledgment of our present ignorance, and by future observation 
and experiment, other inquirers may arrive at the certainty of 
doctrine, which through a different method of investigation 
has never yet been reached. 

The thirty-five elements of speech may be heard under four 
different sorts of voice : — the Natural, — the Falsette, — the 
Whispering, — and that improved quality which I shall pre- 
sently describe under the name of the ' Orotund.' 

The Natural voice is that which we employ in ordinary 
speaking. It includes a range of pitch from the lowest utter- 
able sound, up to that point at which the voice is said to break. 
At this place the natural voice ceases, and the higher parts of 
the scale are made by a shriller kind called the Falsette. The 
natural voice is capable of the discrete, the concrete, and the 
tremulous progression. By the concrete and tremulous move- 
ment, the natural may be continued into the falsette, without 
a perceptible point of union. Thus the concrete rise in vehe- 
ment interrogation sometimes passes far above the limit of the 
natural scale, without exhibiting that unpleasant break in the 
transition to the falsette, which in the discrete scale is remark- 
able both as to quality of sound, and executive effort, except 
with persons of great vocal skill. The peculiarity of sound 
and intonation at this point of the discrete scale, has received 
the name of ' false note.' 

It has been said, the natural voice is produced by the vi- 
bration of the chords of the glottis. This has been inferred 
from the analogy between the action of the human organ and 
that of the dog, in which the vibration has been observed by 
the exposure of the glottis during the cries of the animal, — 
and from the vibration of those chords, on blowing through the 
human larynx when removed from the body. The conclusion 
is therefore probable, but until it is seen in the living function 
of the part, or proved by other means, it can not be admitted 
as a portion of exact physiological science. 

With regard to the mechanical cause of the Variations of 
Pitch, in the natural voice, different notions, and they are but 
L 



82 THE MECHANISM 

notions, have been proposed by their respective advocates. 
They have been transiently enumerated above. 

In a subject like this, where we know nothing, but where 
theorists are ready to fix on any thing, it is well to begin the 
investigation with the logical process of exclusion ; by show- 
ing what does not produce pitch, in those parts of the vocal 
aparatus which are visible. 

The Pitch of the natural voice does not appear to be at all 
connected with the function of the mouth and fauces, for it 
will be seen on examination, that the rise and fall through the 
scale, may be effected on all the tonic elements, and that dur- 
ing the intonation of each, the position of the tongue and fauces 
remains unaltered, if we except some slight unsteadiness of the 
tongue and soft palate, which can have no relation to the defi- 
nite divisions of pitch. 

The sound of #-we is made whilst the tongue is about on a 
level with the lower teeth ; the mouth being open for inspec- 
tion, and all the parts of this vocal avenue having the same po- 
sitions as in an act of silent respiration. Tn performing the run 
of pitch on this element, however, we must have a regard to the 
change of position which the articulation of its vanish 'e-rr' 
produces. The sound of e-ve is made by approximating the 
tongue to the roof of the mouth, leaving between them a narrow 
passage for the air. Now in one of these instances the track 
of the mouth and fauces is free ; whilst in the other, the tongue 
almost closes the avenue of the mouth, and must be nearly in 
contact with the veil of the palate and the arch of the fauces. 
But in each case the respective positions remain unaltered, 
throughout the variations of pitch ; — and in both cases the 
pitch is made with equal facility and exactness. 

Among the subtonics, the pitch of ra-g is made whilst the cur- 
rent of air through the mouth is completely obstructed by the 
contact of the base of the tongue with the soft palate. ' TA-en,' 
on the other hand, may be run through the scale, although it 
is produced by the stream of expiration over the tip of the 
tongue, when in contact with the upper fore teeth. 

It is unnecessary to refer to the visible positions of the mouth 
and fauces in the production of other elements. The identity 
of pitch, which will be found under their various mechanisms, 



OF THE VOICE. 83 

must contribute to the conclusion that I have ventured to draw 
from the strongest instances which are given above. 

Now as with the element n-g, pitch is made by the stream 
of air passing directly from the glottis through the nose, and 
consequently without coming into contact with the arch of the 
fauces or the cavity of the mouth, it is necessary to inquire, 
whether the varieties of pitch, if produced above the glottis at 
all, are made in the avenue of the nose. But pitch may be 
made when the air does not pass through the nose. Pitch too 
is a variable function, whilst the parts within the nose are in- 
capable of motion. 

The Falsette is that peculiar voice in which the higher de- 
grees of pitch are made, after the natural voice breaks or out- 
runs its power. The cry, scream, yell and all shrillness are 
various modes of the falsette. It must not be understood that 
its compass lies, restrictively, between the point at which the 
natural scale ends, and the highest practicable note of the voice : 
for the same kind of falsette sound may be formed, below the 
usual point of transition between the two voices, when the natu- 
ral is raised to its highest degree. All the elements except the 
atonies may be made in falsette ; for there is no quality corres- 
ponding to this sort of voice in the higher notes of whisper. 
I have already observed that the unpleasant effect both of sound 
and of effort, in the change from natural to falsette intonation, 
is obviated when the succession is made by the concrete and 
the tremulous scales. 

The striking difference in quality between the natural and 
the falsette voices, has created the idea of a difference in their 
respective mechanisms, not only as regards the kind of sound, 
but likewise its pitch. 

It has been supposed that the falsette is produced at the 
' upper orifice of the larynx, formed by the summits of the 
aretynoid cartilages and the epiglottis :'"* and the difficulty 
of joining the falsette with the natural voice, which is thought 
to be made by the inferior ligaments of the glottis, is ascribed 
to the change of mechanism in the transition. On this 
point I have only to add, that the falsette or a similar voice, 

* See a summary of the discoveries and opinions of M. Dodart, in Rets Cj 
V'cedia, undcv the article, Voice. 



84 THE MECHANISM 

but without its acuteness, may be brought downward in pitch 
nearly to the lowest degree of the natural voice ; at least I am 
able so to reduce it, thus producing what seems to be a unison, 
or an octave concord of the two voices.* Now since the na- 
tural voice may by cultivation be carried above the point it in- 
stinctively reaches, it may perhaps justify a prosecution of the 
inquiry — whether these voices have a different locality of me- 
chanism : regarding these additions to the range of pitch and 
the difficulty of acquiring a command over them, as according 
rather, with the idea of a difference in the mechanical cause of 
the two voices, than with that of a mere extension of the 
powers of the same organization. 

As we are ignorant of the mechanical cause of the falsette, 
supposing it to be different from the natural voice, so the cause 
of its pitch is equally unknown to us. But fiction is ever 
ready to supply the wants of ignorance : and the peculiarity of 
the falsette having suggested to physiologists that its me- 
chanism must be different from that of the natural voice, se- 
veral writers have assumed that the pitch of the former is made 
above the larynx, and by the back parts of the mouth. I do 
not give the particulars of their theory, because I have been 
able to perceive no other foundation for it, than that of the 
idea of a sort of antithesis in causation : since the natural voice, 
from which the falsette differs so much, is supposed to be made 
within the larynx. But whatever may have been the ground, 
we have had on this subject a complete system of physiologi- 
cal explanation, when there is scarcely fact enough to warrant 
a plausible conjecture. 

As we are then ignorant of what is the cause of the varia- 
tions of pitch in falsette, we may perhaps lessen the opportuni- 
ties for supplying the place of ignorance by fiction, in showing 
what it is not. 

If the cavity of the mouth is observed during the exercise 

* The quality of this reduced falsette, if I may so call it, consisting of an ap- . 
parent combination of its peculiar sound with that of the natural voice, may, in a 
manner, be illustrated by the kind of tone that is produced on a flageolet, by sing- 
ing or rather by what is called ' humming,' during the act of blowing it. A similar 
sound is made by joining a vocal murmur with the shrill aspiration of whistling- 
There is however in both of these cases, more of a buzzing vibration than is heard in 
this reduced or hoarse falsette. 



OF THE VOICE. 85 

of the falsette on the element a-xve, very little alteration will 
be perceived in the positions of the surrounding parts ; except 
some slight contractile movement in the uvula, as the pitch 
rises, and when this is strained to its highest degree, an almost 
total disappearance of the uvula within the veil of the palate. 
That this contraction of the uvula in the higher notes of falsette 
is not the sole cause of its pitch ; and that it is not produced by 
parts of the vocal avenues situated above the glottis, seems 
conclusive from the following considerations. 

The elements 'n' and <m,' both of which are made by the 
passage of air from the glottis solely through the nose, can be 
precisely intonated in the falsette scale, in which case the 
current of expiration does not strike the soft palate, uvula, 
sides of the fauces and base of the tongue — those parts of the 
mouth, by which, it has been supposed, the pitch of this voice 
is produced. 

All the tonic and subtonic elements can be made in the fal- 
sette. Now it is contradictory to a law of sound, that the 
identical quality called falsette, and its pitch, should be made 
under mechanical forms so varied, that the causative structure 
of some of the elements, as of ' a-we' and i cs-n' give a clear 
passage to expiration through the mouth, whilst that of others, 
as of the ' e-ve' ' 1' and ' r' nearly obstruct it. 

The falsette may be made by inspiration through the. nose 
with the mouth closed ; in which case the air can not come into 
contact with those parts of the mouth, which have been sup- 
posed to constitute the mechanism of falsette. But further, if 
we inhale through a tube, one end of which reaches beyond the 
soft palate, the falsette may be carried through its pitch, though 
the current of air in this case does not impress the soft parts at 
the back of the mouth, but passes from the tube directly into 
the glottis. And the same is true of expiration, where the 
current passes directly from the glottis into the tube, without 
passing the isthmus of the fauces. 

I have at this time a case under professional treatment, in 
which the tonsils are so enlarged by disease, that their near 
approach to each other, merely allows space for the uvula to 
hang touching between them : thus obstructing the passage of 
air through the mouth, and presenting a structure altogether 
different from that natural condition, which has been supposed 



86 THE MECHANISM 

to be the mechanical cause of the falsette. And yet this indi- 
vidual, who has some little practice in singing, is able to make 
the falsette intonation. 

I have lately examined the case of a female who is destitute 
of the whole of the soft palate. The passage to the throat being 
a single arch curving along the edge of the palate bone, instead 
of the low double arch formed by the depending uvula in the 
perfect fauces. Adhering to each side of the arch, just above 
the tonsil, there is a sort of fleshy drop ; seemingly formed by 
the curtain of the soft palate, being divided through the uvula 
upwards to the palate bone, and each portion being then drawn 
out of sight on its respective side, except the lateral uvulas, 
which project in the manner and place above described. This 
is the natural state. In straining the highest notes of the fal- 
sette, the two uvulas, by some peculiar muscularity, make an 
effort to approach each other, and thereby convert the simi- 
circular arch into the form of a horseshoe, by drawing inwards 
each about half an inch along the diameter of the arch. Now 
in this case the principal part of the apparatus which is said to 
produce the falsette is wanting ; yet this voice and its degrees 
of pitch are accurately executed by the individual, notwith- 
standing the deformity. 

All the parts that form the back of the mouth are in their 
nature too moveable under the influence of the muscular or- 
gasm, to be the mechanical cause of so precise a function as that 
of the variations of pitch. For where any one point of pitch 
is maintained, the soft palate and its appendage the uvula, may 
be seen to undergo involuntary movements, which as far as we 
know, are inoperative upon the voice. 1 am able to make 
twenty-four distinct notes with accurate intonation ; fifteen of 
them are natural and nine falsette. Now in running through 
this compass on the tonic ' a-we, J in which the articulative me- 
chanism of an open mouth and embedded tongue, allows the 
isthmus of the fauces to be distinctly seen, — I perceive no al- 
teration of position in the natural notes, except that of the ar- 
ticulative change, when the voice runs into <e-rr,' which forms 
the obscure vanish of the diphthong ' a-we.' There is indeed 
an unsteadiness in the positions, but none of that definite gra- 
dation in organic changes which is implied in the ascription of 
the variations of pitch to the motions of the back part of the 



OF THE VOICE. 87 

mouth. In intonating the falsette, discretely, I perceive some 
change in the palate, but little or none in the tongue, if the va- 
nish ' e-rr' is avoided. The change in the palate consists of a con- 
vulsive action of the uvula, which starts up, if I may so speak, 
at the radical opening of ' a- we,' and in a moment descends again. 
This convulsive action is not apparent when the voice ascends 
by the concrete ; though under the use of both scales, the 
uvula at the highest rise of the falsette is contracted almost to 
obliteration. That this extreme contraction is not a movement 
especially productive of the pitch of the falsette, I have endea- 
voured to show above : but am not able to say whether it arises 
from some associative muscular action, or from some change of 
the articulative mechanism in the higher notes of falsette. 

These then are the remarks I have to offer, in acknowledg- 
ing my ignorance of the mechanical cause of the quality and 
pitch of the falsette voice. 

The Whispering voice is the constituent of the atonic ele- 
ments. All the tonics and greater part of the subtonics may 
likewise be uttered in this mode of sound. The subtonics — 
v, z, w, th-en, zh, when whispered, are not respectively dif- 
ferent from the atonies — f, s, wh, th-'w, sh. The other sub- 
tonics may likewise be heard in aspiration; for the whisper of 
— b, d and g, which have been considered by Holder and his 
followers as identical with the atonies — p, t, and k, are distin- 
guishable from them, by a slight guttural effort of aspiration pre- 
ceding their final explosion. 

We are not acquainted with the mechanical cause of whisper, 
as distinguished from vocality. It has been ascribed to the 
operation of the current of air on the sides of the glottis whilst 
its chords are at rest ; whereas vocality is said to proceed from 
the agitation of the air by the vibration of those chords. This 
however is but an inference upon analogy, and may claim the 
rights of probability, and no more. 

The whispering voice has its variation of pitch, but under 
circumstances that distinguish its mode of production from 
that of the natural and the falsette. It has been shown that 
the intonation of these voices is not connected with those visi- 
ble alterations of the mouth, tongue and fauces which produce 
articulation; since the whole compass of the voice may be 
passed through on each of the tonic and subtonic elements. 



88 THE MECHANISM 

But, if I have not been deceived in my observation, the tran- 
sit through the scale of whisper is made by taking different 
elements for the successive steps of the movement : that is, 
each whispered element is in itself incapable of variation in 
pitch, whilst its true articulation remains unchanged. 

For the explanation of this subject, I would designate three 
modes of the whispering voice. The Articulated, which con- 
sists in the pronunciation of the alphabetic elements, — The 
Whistled, which has the well known shrillness of this func- 
tion, — and the Sufflated, made by a blowing through the lips, 
which partakes of the nature of the two former, without hav- 
ing the shrill quality of the one, or the distinct articulation of 
the other. Now in the Articulated Whisper, if the elements 
are distinctly pronounced, without running into the Sufflated 
mode, it will be perceived that the changes of pitch are really 
made upon changes of the elements. In the order of articu- 
lated intonation of the tonics, 'oo-ze' is the lowest in the scale 
and ' i-P the highest : the succession by the first, third and 
fifth, through two octaves, being upon the seven following ele- 
ments.* 

13 5 13 5 8 

oo-ze, a-we, a-rt, e-rr, e-11, a-11, i-i~. 

If this is the real condition of the scale with regard to its 
mode of progression, for so it appears to me, each intermediate 
note must consist of sounds that resemble those which lay con- 
tiguous to it. Thus when we require a second in the pro- 
gression, between oo-ze and a-we, it must partake of the 
articulation of both these elements. And of the two sounds 
for the sixth and seventh, between a-rt and e-rr, one will par- 
take more of the articulation of a-rt and the other of e-rr. But 

* It is necessary to remark that a delicate ear, and a practical knowledge of the 
scale are required for measuring this progression of whispered articulation. The 
extent of the series of elements given in the text being through two octaves, the 
series must begin on the gravest degree of pitch. In executing the rising order of 
these elements, I am obliged to take ' oo-ze' at the very lowest point, at which pure 
articulation, freed from whistle and sufflation, can be made. This is required in 
order to bring the highest place of 'i-F within the reach of intonation: my voice 
being just able to compass these two octaves in articulated whisper. As a matter 
for further investigation upon this subject, it may not be irrelevant to remark here, 
the coincidence, in my own case, of the number of degrees in the scale of whispered 
articulation with that of the natural voice: both being about fifteen. 



OF THE VOICE. 89 

these intermediate sounds do not exist in our language : hence 
they are not made without careful effort. And thus it is that 
the intonation of articulated whisper, is rarely executed with 
precision, except on those points which are numbered in the 
preceding series, since the familiar elements of speech are em- 
ployed at those points. 

The pitch of the sufflated whisper appears to be made in the 
same manner as that of the articulated. For as this sufflation 
is only a kind of subdued whistling, a husky imitation of the 
whispered elements will be perceived, when we rise through 
the scale with it; the oo-ze being the lowest sound, and i-i the 
highest. This sufflated whisper is employed to form the tune 
of the Jews-harp ; and it is owing to the difficulty in articula- 
ting the intermediate and artificial elements, if 1 may so call 
them, that persons even of a good musical ear, are rarely able 
on first trials to hit accurately, more than the third, fifth, and 
octave on the scale of this simple instrument. 

The pitch of whistling is also dependent on the same mechan- 
ism ; since if in this case as well as in that of sufflation, a thin 
rod be passed into the corner of the mouth, so as to depress the 
tongue, the power of ascending the scale will be destroyed. 
For in the pitch of whistling, there is, however obscure, a 
quality of sound in the lowest note, resembling the oo-ze, and 
in the highest the i-i ; and hence the depression of the tongue 
prevents the articulation of all those tonics which require the 
elevation of this member towards the roof of the mouth; and 
these constitute the greater portion of the scale. The shrillness 
of whistling seems to be made by the aperture in the lips. 

The subtonic elements, when whispered, are individually in- 
capable of the variations of pitch : but like the tonics they may 
have relatively to each other different places in the scale. 

The atonies have no variation of pitch in themselves : nor is 
their relative place in the scale, if they have any, of the least 
importance in the use of speech. 

In order to perceive clearly the distinctions here pointed out, 
we must, in executing the articulated whisper, be careful to 
make the elements, as it were, at the back of the mouth, and 
to avoid falling into either of the two other forms, whose char- 
acteristic function lies nearer the lips. 

The mode of voice which 1 am now about to consider, is not 
M 



90 THE MECHANISM 

perhaps specifically different from the natural voice ; but is 
rather to be regarded as an eminent degree of fulness, clear- 
ness, and smoothness of its quality : and this may be either na- 
tive or acquired. 

The limited analysis and vague history of speech by the an- 
cients, and the further confusion of the subject by commenta- 
tors upon them, leave us in doubt whether the expression ' os 
rotundum' used by the Romans, in enumerating the merits of 
Grecian utterance, referred to the construction of periods, the 
predominance or position of vowels, or to quality of voice. 
Whatever may have been the original signification of the phrase, 
the English term ' roundness of tone,' specifying the kind of 
voice, seems to have been derived from it. 

He who by closely observing the human voice, in its best 
instances on the stage, has acquired a knowledge of its powers 
and beauties, may remember how slowly he came to the full 
perception and relish of them. And he will not deny that they 
would have earlier attracted his attention, had they been sig- 
nalized by a proper oratorical name. On the basis of the Latin 
phrase, I have constructed the term Orotund, — to designate 
both adjectively and substantively, that assemblage of eminent 
qualities which constitute the highest character of the speaking 
voice. 

By the Orotund voice, I mean that natural or improved man- 
ner of uttering the elements which exhibits them with a ful- 
ness, clearness, strength, smoothness, and a ringing or musical 
quality, rarely heard in ordinary speech ; but which is never 
found in its highest excellence, except through long and careful 
cultivation. 

By Fulness of voice, I mean that grave and hollow volume, 
which approaches towards hoarseness. 

By Clearness, a freedom from nasal murmur and aspiration. 

By Strength, a satisfactory loudness or audibility. 

By Smoothness, a freedom from all reedy or guttural harshness. 

By a Ringing quality of voice, — its distant resemblance to 
the resonance of certain musical instruments. 

I know how difficult it is to make such descriptions definite, 
without audible illustration. Perhaps the best mode of instruc- 
tion on this subject, is to excite attention by terms, to give as 
clearly as possible a detailed explanation of the thing by figu- 



♦ 1 



OF THE VOICE. 91 

rative reference, and to leave its recognition to the subsequent 
observation of the learner. The same natural relationships that 
suggested the metaphor to its inventor, will in due time pro- 
duce with others a ready acquiescence in the aptness of the 
illustration.* 

The mechanical structure and action which produce the oro- 
tund are to me, after much inquiry, unknown. During its 
utterance, I can perceive some motion and contraction of the 
back parts of the mouth, as distinguished from the position of 
those parts under the colloquial voice. But these indications 
of a cause are so slight and so indefinite, that to me, they do 
not at present justify more than this general notice. In our 
ignorance of the mechanism of speech, we are not even able to 
decide whether the orotund is merely an improved quality of 
the natural voice, or the product of some additional function. 
I said above that the falsette or some thing hoarsely like it, 
may be executed in the lower range of pitch of the natural 
voice. It might then be suggested for inquiry — whether the 
cause of the orotund is the same as that of the reduced falsette, 
or as it may be called the Basso-falsette : for this has somewhat 
of the full, hollow, and ringing effect, which 1 have ascribed 
to the acquired orotund. 

Connected with the subject of an improved quality of the 
singing voice which vocalists call 'Pure Tone,' there are a 
number of terms used to describe the mechanical causes of its 
different kinds and qualities. Among these, the causations im- 
plied by the phrases < voce di testa' and ' voce di petto,' or the 
voices from the head and the chest, must be considered as alto- 

* Reverberations may serve to furnish some idea of two of the qualities of the 
orotund voice. Thus vaulted ceilings and covered recesses often give a ringing 
echo ; and speaking with the mouth within an empty vessel produces a hollow 
fulness. One of the best instances I ever heard, of the modification of the human 
voice into the above named qualities, was from a boy who had sportfully got into 
a large copper alembic. 

It may be worth thinking upon, — whether the brazen vases of the Greek 
Theatre were not intended to improve the voice in quality, rather than to in- 
crease its force, or to return a unison to its pitch. The speaking trumpet af- 
fords, though not agreeably, an illustration of the qualities above described : 
and could the bugle or the organ diapason be made to articulate, it would 
show the highest measure of that fulness and sonorous effect, which in a re- 
duced proportion constitute the character of the orotund voice. 



92 THE MECHANISM 

gether without foundation in physiology : and the notions con- 
veyed by them, must be hung up beside those metaphorical 
pictures, which with their characteristic obscurity, have been 
in all ages, substituted for the unattainable delineations of the 
real processes of nature. 

There is a harsh quality of utterance called the Guttural 
voice, which is produced by a vibratory current of the air, be- 
tween the sides of the pharynx and the base of the tongue, 
when apparently brought into contact above the glottis. If 
then the term ' voice from the throat,' which has been one of 
the unmeaning or indefinite designations of vocal science, were 
applied to this guttural quality, it would precisely assign at 
least some locality to the mechanism. 

Though 1 have not hesitated to acknowledge my ignorance 
of the mechanism of the orotund, I know that its function wher- 
ever performed may yet be subjected to the will. And as it 
was said above that the best and only pure instances of this 
voice, are the result of cultivation, I here propose to point out 
some elementary means by which it may be acquired. 

It might be sufficient for a teacher of elocution to exemplify 
the orotund, and bid the pupil to imitate it. Vocalists in their 
lessons on Pure Tone do little more. But singing has long been 
an art ; and its many votaries have rendered the public familiar 
with its leading principles, and accustomed the ear to the peculi- 
arities of its practice. Whilst elocution seems to be no more than 
a brutal instinct ; in which some only bleat, bark, mew, winnow 
and bray a little better than others. In describing, therefore, with- 
out the opportunity of illustrating, it becomes necessary to ad- 
dress the pupil, as if he had no principles to help his understand- 
ing, nor exemplified sounds to satisfy his ear. The only way in 
which this purpose can be answered in written instruction, is to 
make him teach himself, by referring him. to those functions of 
the voice, which are familiar to him both by nature and name. 
When the scholastic world shall understand the analysis of the 
speaking voice, and shall apply it to practice, men will learn 
the good things of elocution from one another, children will 
catch the proprieties of speech from well taught parents, and 
many a topic of this work which 1 have laboured (perhaps in 
vain) to make at this time perspicuous, may hereafter, from 



OF THE VOICE. 93 

the unsought enlightening of surrounding knowledge, seem to 
be perspicuous in itself. 

With due attention, we perceive two modes in the act of 
respiration : the one being a continued stream of air through- 
out the whole time of expiration : the other consisting in the 
issue of breath by short iterated jets. The first of these 
modes is that of ordinary breathing, panting, sighing, groan- 
ing, and sneezing. The second is employed in laughter, cry- 
ing, and speech.* 

By a voluntary power over the muscles of respiration, the 
breath in speech is dealt out to successive syllables, in such 
small portions as may be requisite for the time and force of 
each. In thus guarding against waste, the necessity of fre- 
quent inspiration is obviated : and the ability of pausing freely 
in the course of expiration, between syllables and words, al- 
lows a subsequent abrupt opening of the voice, whenever it is 
required for the purposes of speech. 

The act of Coughing may be made either by a series of short 
abrupt efforts, in expiration ; or by one continued impulse 
which yields up the whole of the breath. Now this last named 
mode forms one of the means for acquiring the orotund voice. 
This single impulse of coughing is an abrupt utterance of one 
of the short tonics, followed by a continuation of the mere 
atonic breathing <h' till the expiration is exhausted. Let this 
compound function, consisting of the exploded vocality and 
subjoined aspiration, be changed to an entire vocality, by con- 
tinuing the tonic in place of the aspiration. The sound thus 
produced, will with proper cultivation, make that full and so- 
norous quality here denominated the orotund. 

This contrived effort of coughing, when freed from abrupt- 
ness, is like that voice which accompanies gaping : for this has 
a hollow and ringing vocality, very different from the collo- 
quial utterance of tonic sounds. 

Let this entire vocality of the cough, if it may be thus dis- 

* Laughter and Crying will be particularly noticed hereafter. 

Sighing and Groaning are of similar time : one being an atonic or whispered ele- 
ment, the other a tonic vocality. 

Sneezing is a continued expiration abruptly begun ; and generally producing one 
of the elements. 

I say nothing here of the various modes of inspiration connected with these acts. 



94 THE MECHANISM 

tinguished from the natural cough, which is part vocality and 
part aspiration, — let it I say be practiced sufficiently, and the 
learner will find not only an increasing facility in executing 
it, but its clearness and smoothness will be thereby improved. 
Let the voice be herein exercised by sliding upwards and 
downwards, through the concrete scale, on each of the tonic 
elements ; drawing out the vocality to the utmost pressure of 
expiration. Then let trials be made on syllabic combina- 
tions.* 

When the learner is able to execute the tonic elements and 
single syllables in the orotund, he is not therefore qualified to 
speak in it. Since he will find on attempting to deliver a 
sentence in the easy flow and time of ordinary discourse, that 
his natural voice will return. The cause of this will be un- 
derstood, by his recollecting the distinction between the two 
modes of expiration. For though he may have a facility in 
making the orotund with the continuous stream of vocality, he 
has yet to acquire the art of delivering that voice, by inter- 
rupted jets of expiration, such as are used in natural utterance, 
and which are absolutely essential to easy and agreeable 
speech. Continued practice however, with a gradual increase 
of the number of syllables, will in time bring his interrupted 
expiration of the orotund under the same command as that of 
common speech. 

And although he may at last have acquired the power of ut- 
tering any number of successive syllables by interrupted jets 
of this voice : yet the manner of their succession will be mo- 
notonous ; there will be a failure in his designs of expression ; 
and an inability to make the proper close at the end of a sen- 
tence. Repeated practice will give correctness and facility on 
these points, and the management of the orotund, for the im- 
pressive and elegant purposes of speech,, will in time be no 
more difficult than that of the natural voice. 

The method of acquiring the orotund, is similar to our in- 
stinctive progress in the use of the natural voice. The cries 
of infants are made on the continued stream of vocality. It is 

* This process of forcing out the breath to the seeming exhaustion of the lungs, 
is apt to produce giddiness of the head. Care should therefore be taken, to avoid 
continuing the exercise of the voice too long in this manner ; and to desist, for the 
time, after that affection comes on. 



OF THE VOICE. 95 

a long time before they employ the interrupted mode of expi- 
ration. The first speech of the child is by an apportionment 
of a single syllable to a breath. By a preparatory exercise in 
the interrupted jets of laughter and crying, the habit of perfect 
speech is acquired. The same kind of monosyllabic breath, 
that is employed in infant articulation, and in acquiring the 
orotund, occurs in the debility of extreme age, and in cases 
of exhaustion from disease : for here the utterance frequently 
consists of but one, or at most two syllables to an act of expi- 
ration. The condition is similar in panting from violent ex- 
ercise ; the voluntary power which governs the interrupted 
jets of expiration being lost in this case. 

The orotund is possessed in various degrees of excellence by 
actors of eminence. The state of mere animal instinct in which 
they have been with regard to the uses of the voice, must con- 
vince us that they can have no systematic means for improving 
it. There is, however, one circumstance in theatrical speech, 
which may undesignedly produce in the course of time, the 
full volume and sonorous quality of the orotund. I mean the 
practice of vociferating, which seems to be required, by the 
extent of the House, and by the poetical rant and bombast of 
what are called ' stock acting tragedies.' In addition, there- 
fore, to the previously described means for acquiring the oro- 
tund, I shall, in a few words, point out a varied mode, sug- 
gested by the vehement efforts of dramatic recitation. 

Let the reader make an expiration on the interjection ' hah,' 
in the voice of whisper ; using that degree of force which, with 
some motion of the chest, seems to drive all the air out of it. 
Now let the whisper in this process be changed to vocality. 
This vocality will have the hoarse fulness and sonorous quality 
of the orotund. It is the forcible exertion of this kind of voice 
which constitutes vociferation ; for vociferation is the utmost 
effort of the natural voice, as the scream or yell is of the fal- 
sette. Actors who affect the first rank in their art; have com- 
monly an energy of feeling that prompts them to a degree of 
force in utterance, which produces the mixture of vocality and 
aspiration, heard in the interjection ' hah' — and I shall show in 
a future section, that the junction of a certain degree of aspira- 
tion with the tonic elements, is one of the means of earnest and 
forceful expression. The frequent occurrence of exaggerated 



96 THE MECHANISM 

sentiments in the drama, joined to the effort required by the 
dimensions of a theatre, produces a habit of interjective expi- 
ration, which leads the speaker to the attainment of the oro- 
tund, if his voice is capable of it. 

It must not be supposed that the full hollow and ringing 
sound of the orotund is always of the same purity. It varies 
as to its degrees of strength and fulness, and is sometimes 
slightly infected with aspiration, or nasal murmur, or guttural 
harshness. 

If it should be asked — what advantage is to be gained by the 
care and labour here enjoined, for acquiring this improved 
quality of the speaking voice, 1 answer — First, the mere sound 
is more musical than that of the common voice. In compari- 
son with the full and sonorous character of a fine orotund, 
there are voices which have as little of the nature of music in 
them, as the noise of a hammer on a block. This quality is so 
alluring that it often catches the ear and approbation of those 
who are quite insensible to impressions from the agency of 
pause, quantity, and intonation. I have known the single 
influence of a musical voice create an extensive fame for its 
possessor, who in more essential points of good reading was 
even below mediocrity. It is this quality which dignifies the 
other excellencies of speech. In the female voice it is most 
obvious and delightful. 

Secondly. The orotund is fuller in volume than the common 
voice : and as its smooth musical quality gives a delicate at- 
tenuation to the vanishing movement, its fulness with no less 
appropriate effect, displays the stronger body of the radical. 

Thirdly. It has a pureness of vocality that gives distinct- 
ness to pronunciation. For when completely formed, it is 
free from the dullness created by nasal murmur or aspiration ; 
the characteristic offensiveness of which is shown by the union 
of these functions in snoring. 

Fourthly. It has a greater degree of strength than the com- 
mon voice. In this respect it partakes of the nature of things 
which are perfect in their kind. The ear seems filled with its 
volume and asks for no more of it. There is too, on the part of 
the speaker himself, that satisfactory sensation which attends 
the full energizing of a function : for here nature herself seems 
to acknowledge that he has done his whole duty. Those who 



OF THE VOICE. 97 

by cultivation of the singing voice have brought its tone to the 
utmost extent of fulness and purity, will admit the import- 
ance of any means which give strength to the organ for the 
purposes of .speech. Compared with the power and facility of 
an endowed and high-taught vocalist, instinctive efforts in song 
seem to be not much removed from the imbecility of paralysis. 

Fifthly. The orotund, from the discipline of cultivation, 
is more under command than the common voice: and is con- 
sequently more efficient and precise in the production of 
long quantity ; in varying the degrees of force; in executing 
the tremulous scale, and in fulfilling all the other purposes of 
expressive intonation. 

(Sixthly. It is the only kind of voice appropriate to the 
master style of epic and dramatic reading. Through it alone 
the actor consummates the outward sign of the dignity and 
energy of his conception. The impressive authority and state- 
ly elegance of this voice, exceed as measurably, the meaner 
sounds of ordinary discourse, as the superlative pictures of the 
poet and the broad wisdom of the sage, respectively transcend 
the poor originals of life and all their wretched policies. It is 
the only voice capable of fulfilling the majesty of Shakspeare 
and Milton. 

Finally, as the orotund does not destroy the ability to use 
at will the common voice, it may be imagined how their con- 
trasted employment may add the resource of vocal light and 
shade, if I may so speak, to the other means of oratorical co- 
loring and design. 

The tremulous movement of the voice does not appear to be 
produced by any of the visible parts of the fauces : though 
there is a gurgling noise, somewhat resembling it, which pro- 
ceeds from the vibration of the uvula, when brought into con- 
tact with the base of the tongue in the expiration of the ele- 
ments ' e-ve' and ' e-rr.' I leave it for future observers to ascer- 
tain whether the tremulous rise and fall may not be referred to 
the same organic cause which produces the variations of pitch in 
the natural and falsette voices. 

I have thus endeavoured to set forth what we do not know 
of the mechanism of speech. The subject of the voice is di- 
vided into two branches, — Anatomy and Physiology. The 
first embraces a description of the vocal organs. The second 
N 



98 THE MECHANISM OF THE VOICE. 

a history of the functions performed by that organization-. 
The anatomical structure is recorded even to the utmost visi- 
ble minuteness : whilst the history of those audible functions 
which it is the design of this work to develope, and which by 
the strictest meaning of the term constitute the vocal physiolo- 
gy, has in a great measure been disregarded, under a belief that 
the subject is beyond the power of scrutiny. 

In thus overlooking the analysis of quality, force, and pitch 
of ,vocal sound, writers have endeavoured to ascertain what 
parts of the organization produce these several phenomena ; 
and seem to have almost restricted the name of physiology to 
their vain and contradictory fancies about these mechanical 
causations. Hence in the physiology of the audible functions, 
there is little of that rooted opinion, which in most cultivated 
sciences, contends with an original inquirer at every step. 
Whereas the subject of mechanical causation, like all other 
matters of theory, has become doctrinal and divided ; and the 
inquirer has here not only to strive at the secresy of nature, 
but harder still, has to encounter the obstinacy of sectaries, 
whose opinions have grown into pride by their unyielding 
contentions with each other. 

When the reader has finished this volume, he will perceive 
that in the present section I was somewhat occupied by the 
notions of men ; whilst in all the rest, I was entirely employ- 
ed in attempting to delineate the works of nature : A contrast 
that may well induce one to exclaim, — Happy is he, who de- 
siring to advance the cause of knowledge, comes to a subject 
which the fictional finger of the schools has never touched. 



THE DIATONIC MELODY OF SPEECH. 98 



SECTION VI. 

Of the Melody of Speech ; together with an inquiry how 
far the Musical terms Key and Modulation 
are applicable to it. 

When the nature of the radical and vanishing movement 
was described, it was regarded individually, or as applied to a 
single syllable. But as speech consists for the most part, of a 
series of syllables, on each of which the concrete function of 
the voice instinctively occurs ; it is necessary to consider the 
use and relationships of the radical and vanish, in their aggre- 
gate application to the successive syllables of discourse. 

In plain narrative or description, the concrete utterance of 
each syllable is made through the interval of a tone ; and the 
successive concretes have a difference of pitch, relatively to 
each other. The appropriation of these concretes to syllables, 
and the manner in which the succession of their pitch is varied, 
are exemplified in the following notation : 



He 


reads 


in 


na 


— ture's 


in fi nite 


£ 


• 


^ 


«■ 


if 


fM gtf MR 








^J 




<^s) f& <jgv 



book of se ere cy 



4— 4- 



If these lines and the included spaces be supposed, each in 
proximate order, to denote the difference of a tone in pitch, 
the successions of the radical points, with their issuing vanish, 
will show the places of the syllables of the superscribed sen- 
tence, in easy and unimpassioned utterance. The perception 
of the effect of the successions here exemplified, is called the 
Melody of speech. 



100 THE DIATONIC 

A strict definition of the term, melody of speech, embraces 
the doctrine of pitch, of force, of time, and of pause, and re- 
gards likewise higher intervals of the scale than those above 
exemplified: but as the nature of each of these constituents will 
be separately described hereafter, the subject of the present sec- 
tion is limited to the development of the principles of pitch 
when the melody is made exclusively through the interval of 
a tone. 

An accurate perception of the difference of pitch in speech 
can be obtained only by close observation, and by well devised 
experiment. The inquirer should be able to rise and descend 
through the musical scale, on any one of the tonic elements. 
He should then traverse the octave, both ascending and de- 
scending, on any eight successive syllables, selected from com- 
mon discourse ; using a different syllable for each note of the 
scale. This exercise will in due time enable him to recognize 
the intervals of a tone, a third, a fifth, and an octave, when the 
intonation is made on the passing syllables of speech. Being 
thus prepared, let him try to analyze the sentence in the above 
example, when uttered in his own natural manner; for I can 
not suppose him yet able to follow the notation. With this 
view he should move slowly through the sentence, sounding 
only the tonic element of each syllable ; and giving those ele- 
ments their shortest abrupt sound ; so that the reading, if I 
may so call it, may resemble the successions of a short cough. 
This method will make the variations of pitch more distinct 
than when all the elements are pronounced. 

If this contrived utterance should not afford a clear percep- 
tion whether a given syllable rises or falls a tone, from the 
place of the preceding one, let him measure the questionable 
relation of the two sounds, by the rule of the scale, in the fol- 
lowing manner. Whilst he pronounces the syllables as if he 
were reading, let him keep their sounds in notice as parts of 
the scale. If the second be above the first, he will perceive 
that the ascent, by those two sounds, forms the two first steps 
or notes of the rising scale : for by continuing to rise he will 
find himself completing the scale upon them. If the second 
be below the first, he will, on the addition of one or more 
tones below the second, recognize that peculiar effect which be- 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 101 

longs to the close of the scale, and to the fall of the voice at a 
period of discourse : for this effect can take place only upon a 
descent of the voice. In the use of the means here directed, 
the ear must, with divided attention, be turned at the same 
time, to the progress of the spoken melody, and to the succes- 
sions of pitch in the musical scale. 

In order to render the system of melody intelligible, we may 
consider the succession of its sounds as subdivided into that 
which takes place generally in the sentence, and that which 
occurs on a short portion at its termination. These divisions, 
may be otherwise termed, the Current melody, and the melody 
of the Cadence. 

The current melody, or that succession of rise and fall which 
is made on all the syllables of a sentence, except the three last, 
exhibits the following phenomena. 

In simple phraseology, which conveys no feeling or emphatic 
sentiment, every syllable consists of the upward radical and 
vanishing tone. The succession of these concrete tones is 
made with a variation of pitch, in which any two proximate 
concretes never differ from each other more than the interval 
of a tone. 

To distinguish these two modes of melodial progression by 
short and referrible terms, let us call the rise of each syllable 
the Concrete Pitch of melody ; and the place that each syllable 
assumes above or below the preceding, the Radical Pitch. 
Thus in the foregoing example of notation, every one of the 
syllables has the concrete pitch of a tone : the two composing 
the word < nature,' differ from each other in their radical 
pitch, whilst that of the three syllables of ' infinite' is the 
same. 

It will be shown hereafter in its proper place, that the me- 
lody employed at some of the pauses in discourse, requires a 
certain succession of radical pitch, for the just representation 
of sense and expression. But the parts contained within the 
divisions, made by these pauses, have in general no fixed mode 
of arrangement : for the effect will be natural and agreeable, if 
the melody of these parts is made by avoiding a continuation 
of the same radical pitch, or an alternate rising and falling, or 
any other progression of remarkable regularity. 1 offer here 



1,02 



THE DIATONIC 



three different notations of the same sentence, in which the 
above cautions are observed ; and in each of which the melody- 
has a natural construction. 



He ne ver drinks, but Ti mon's sil- 



treads up -on his lip. 



*t—4~#- 



He ne ver drinks, but Ti — mon's sil- 



-ver 




treads 


up— 


— on 


his 


lip. 


sf 


4 


4 


flf 




V 






W 


*!l 



He 


ne ver 


drinks, 


but 


Ti mon's 


sil ver 


4 


J[ 




«f 


4 4f 


*r & 


<gr 



treads up on his lip. 



*-^ 



There are other modes in which an agreeable melody might 
be framed for'' this sentence, on the principles of the varied 
succession of radical pitch here delineated. But however va- 
ried the succession, its forms are all reducible to a limited num- 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 



103 



ber of aggregates of the concrete tones ; which may be called 
the Phrases of melody, and described thus : 

When two or more concretes occur successively on the same 
place of radical pitch, it may be called the phrase of the Mo- 
notone. 

When the radical of a concrete is above or below that of a 
preceding one, the phrases may be termed respectively, the 
Rising and Falling Ditone. 

When the radicals of three concretes successively ascend — 
the Rising Tritone : when the}' descend, the Falling Tritone. 

When there is a train of three or more, alternately a tone 
above and below each other, it may be called an Alternation or 
the Alternate phrase. 

When three concretes gradually descend in their radical 
pitch, at the close of a sentence, the phrase may be called the 
Triad of the Cadence. This is indeed a falling tritone, but 
since the vanish of the lowest radical in the tritone of the ca- 
dence always descends, as 1 shall show presently, 1 have 
thought proper to contradistinguish it by the term Triad. 

The form of these phrases is pointed out on the notation of 
the following lines ; where the current is constructed in a man- 
ner not unsuitable to the simple narrative of the couplet : 
though here, as in some other instances of this essay, the me- 
lody is made with a view to illustrate description, rather than 
to furnish examples of appropriate elocution. 



That quar — ter most the skil — ful Greeks an noy; 



~W — Cr — &— 



Monotone. Falling Ditone. Rising Tritone. Rising Ditone. 
Where yon wild fig trees join the walls of Troy. 



0L4L- w ^£S f-#.* : ^sTtfZ__ 



Falling Tritone. Alternation. Triad of the Cadence. 

I have not been able to discover that the melody of plain 



104 THE DIATONIC 

narrative or description is resolvable into more than these 
seven phrases. It would seem to be part of the ordination of 
the diatonic melody, that there should not be a rise or fall, of 
any great extent, by proximate degrees. I have limited it to 
the tritone, in both directions, because it appears to me that a 
further progression is not agreeable. Whether the propriety 
of excluding phrases of more than three constituents from dia- 
tonic speech, might be grounded on the perception, that the 
effect of such phrases somewhat resembles that of song, parti- 
cularly in ascending, whereby the semitone is traversed, — 1 
leave to be determined by others ; hoping, in the spirit of true 
philosophy, that until this point is ascertained, there will be no 
party divisions or idle wrangling about it. 

The three examples given in a preceding page, of the varied 
current melody of the same sentence, and the statement that 
even in that short sentence, the phrases might be further agree- 
ably diversified, enable us to understand why an accomplished 
speaker never offends the ear, by a monotonous continuation 
of the same radical pitch, or by formal returns of similar pro- 
gressions. For notwithstanding the pitch is necessarily li- 
mited to the variety afforded by the rise and fall of a single 
tone, yet the different phrases of melody, and their practicable 
changes, furnish sequences of dissimilar passages, quite suffi- 
cient to prevent a recognition of identity in the succession. 
The ear of a skilful speaker is always on the watch against the 
faults of monotony, from closely repeated phrases : and there 
are enough variable elements to afford an easy exemption from 
them. The principle that governs the construction of the suc- 
cessions of pitch in the melody of speech, is similar to that 
which directs the arrangement of varied accent, and quantity, 
in the rythmus of harmonious prose. Excellence in each is 
the work of a delicate and discerning ear : and its habitual and 
almost involuntary judgment is not less effective in one instance, 
by securing the beauties of a varied intonation, than in the 
other, by rejecting the prosodial measures of acknowledged 
verse. 

The melody of speech is made by movements of the voice, 
partly in the concrete and partly in the discrete scale. The 
radical and vanish of each syllable is strictly concrete. The 



in a i »■■*■ 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 105 

transition from one syllable to another partakes in some in- 
stances of the nature of a concrete junction. Thus, in the first 
diagram of this section, the vanish of the syllable ' he' rises 
through the interval of a tone. The radical of reads' begins on 
the place at which the preceding vanish ends : for though the 
fulness of the radical sound broadly distinguishes it from the 
fine termination of the antecedent vanish, and notwithstand- 
ing there is a momentary interruption of the line of sound, yet 
there is an appearance of one kind of continuity between them. 
The transition of the melody from the syllable 'in' to 'na' is 
by the discrete scale ; for the radical of ' na' begins a whole 
tone below the radical of 'in,' and the change from the vanish 
of < in' to the radical of 'na' is here made without the down- 
ward continuity of the concrete scale. In a general view of 
this subject, it may be stated, that the constituents of the 
phrases of the rising ditone and tritone are joined by the im- 
perfect kind of concrete spoken of above. In the monotone and 
the falling phrases the transition is made by the discrete scale. 
It will be readily acknowledged that the changes of pitch after 
a cadence or full stop, must be by the discrete scale. 

If the foregoing description of the successions of pitch in 
plain narrative, is correct, we may, upon strict etymology, call 
the sum of those successions the Diatonic melody of speech. 
For in the first place, the vanish of each separate concrete rises 
through the space of a tone ; and secondly, the changes of ra- 
dical pitch are made through the same interval. 

These two functions, the first having the peculiar charac- 
teristic of the equable rise, are the material points that dis- 
tinguish the melody of speech from that of song. 

There are two kinds of succession in song : the first by con- 
joint degrees, or the change of the note from one place on the 
scale, to another immediately above or below it ; the second 
by skips as they are called, or by transitions from a given 
place, to any other except the proximate. 

The melody of speech does employ both these modes of 
succession : but that by skips is of more rare occurrence than 
in song. 

In treating hereafter of the nature of emphasis, and of inter- 
rogative sentences, the occasions and manner of using these 
wider changes of radical pitch will be shown. The melody of 




106 THE DIATONIC 

simple narrative or inexpressive speech, now before us, al- 
ways moves by conjoint degrees. 

I proceed to analyze the intonation, applied to the final syl- 
lables of a sentence ; and which, from its position and peculiar 
nature, I have contradistinguished as the melody of the. 
Cadence. If the eight notes of the musical diatonic scale 
be uttered, both ascending and descending, by a repetition of 
the word * cordova,' the appropriation of syllables will be thus : 
cor-do-va cor-do-va cor-do : and descending, cor-do cor-do-va 
cor-do-va. By thus sol-faing, if I may so speak, on these 
syllables, the last repetition of the word in the descent, is al- 
lotted to the three lower notes of the scale : the final syllable 
making a full close on its key-note. In this experiment, I 
have supposed the intonation to be made by the note of song ; 
as it would certainly be so made, by a person familiar with the 
scale. If, whilst descending, these three notes of song be 
changed to the equable concretes of speech, the effect on the 
ear will be identical with that of the same word, at a full 
period of discourse. From this and other trials it. may be 
learned, that the melody of the cadence is always made on the 
three closing notes of the downward scale. 

But the most remarkable effect of the cadence lies in ano- 
ther point. I have represented all the radical sounds of the 
current melody as terminating in a rising vanish ; but we shall 
have occasion to see hereafter that the purposes of variety and 
expression, often require the use of a downward concrete. 
Now one purpose of a contrary movement is, to bring the cur- 
rent of the voice to a close ; and with this intention, the last 
constituent or lowest concrete of the cadence is made by a feeble 
downward vanish of a tone. It is this course of the concrete, 
which is here so easily distinguishable from the rising vanish, 
that assists in producing the repose at the end of a sentence : 
and that constitutes, in connection with the series of three de- 
scending radicals, the essential characteristic of the cadence. 

It was stated above, that each syllable of the current melody 
has a radical and vanishing tone appropriated to it. The parts 
of the cadence are not so apportioned. Let us, for the sake of 
reference, designate the constituents of the cadence by the 
names of their numeral positions. 

In the First form of the cadence, the first, second and third 



108 THE DIATONIC 

cadence, the second constituent is omitted, as in the following 
notation : 



Of 


wiles, 


more 


in ex pert, 


I 


boast 


not. 


kT 




d 


*fl V mm 


<r 


¥ 






ff 


w 


W ■ wP 






^ 



This takes place when the ultimate and penultimate syllables 
of a sentence are each so short, that giving either the length of 
two conjoined concretes, would deform pronunciation. 

In this example, the proper triad should be made by a suc- 
cessive descent of three tones on the words 'I boast not.' If 
from unskilful management of the voice, a reader should ne- 
glect to set the syllable ' boast' with the radical pitch of a tone 
below < I,' he will be unable to complete the cadence, by the 
downward prolongation of the short syllable 'not' through the 
interval of two tones, as is done on a long syllable, in the 
fourth form of the cadence. But a full close can not be made 
without the third constituent, or an extension of the second in 
a downward vanish through its place : and as the syllable 
'not,' on account of its short time, is incapable of this last 
condition, the second constituent must be omitted, and a de- 
fective cadence made by a skip to the last place of the triad. 

From this analysis of the cadence, we have learned that its 
construction involves the consideration of the time of syllables. 
The first or tripartite form may be used under any condition of 
quantity ; but if the three, or even the two last syllables should 
be short, and not admit of prolongation, it is the only appli- 
cable mode. The same remark may be made upon the second 
form. When the penultimate is long, the third form may be 
used ; and the fourth and fifth each requires a long quantity in 
the final syllable. 

Of the six described forms of the cadence, all except the last 
make natural and agreeable closes ; but the first and second, 
which proceed by an equal number of concretes and syllables 
are of the easiest execution. The third, fourth and fifth, 
which conjoin two and three concretes respectively on a 
single syllable, require a facility in the management of quanti- 
ty, rarely possessed by common readers. Skill in command- 
ing the time of utterance, enables an accomplished reader to 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 109 

perform with equal ease and elegance, these four varieties of 
cadence ; and to give a faultless close, however unexpectedly 
he may meet with a period in discourse : whilst the ordinary 
reader frequently fails in his final melody, from being limited 
to the use of the tripartite cadence. For should his current 
melody be so continued that a monotone or rising ditone 
reaches to the penultimate syllable, his cadence will necessarily 
be awkward or false. The last described form of the cadence, 
which is not uncommon with the mass of speakers, is strictly 
forbidden by the rule of a good composition in melody. 

The fifth form of the cadence, which is made restrictively 
upon the last syllable, is distinguished by a peculiarity of func- 
tion. It appears that the voice does pass downward through 
nearly the same extent of pitch, as when the cadence is made 
in the first or tripartite mode : but by this continuous descent 
the radicals of the second and third constituents are lost. Now 
it is the fulness of the radical which draws the attention of the 
ear to the changes of pitch in the current melody ; and which 
conspicuously marks the descent of the triad at the close. The 
omission therefore of the radicals of the second and third con- 
cretes, lessens the impressiveness of the cadence, and suggests 
a twofold distinction as regards its effect on the ear. When 
made, as in the fifth form, by one downward concrete on the 
last syllable, it may be called the Feeble cadence : and the Full 
cadence, when the proper radicals of the other constituents are 
employed. The full cadence is delineated in the firstand se- 
cond forms noted above. When the reader can follow the no- 
tation, he will perceive a difference between the effect of these 
and that of the fifth: he will admit too that the second of the 
tripartite forms produces a more satisfactory feeling of repose. 

In the representations of the cadence, it appears, by measur- 
ing to the extreme of the downward vanish of the last consti- 
tuent, that all the forms except the fifth, embrace the interval 
of a fourth. And though I have marked this last form nomi- 
nally as a third, yet the feeble cadence may be made by an 
extension of the concrete downward to a fourth, or fifth. Nor 
do I pretend to assert, that the downward concrete of the last 
constituent of the other forms, may not, on occasion, reach be- 
yond the tone which is here allotted to it. I have assumed the 
interval of the third as the characteristic of the feeble cadence, 



110 THE DIATONIC 

because it is the smallest downward interval which has, in its 
place, the effect of a close. The nature of this cadence is such, 
that the ear allows a speaker either to pause or to proceed 
upon it. 

The proper construction of the cadence is of the first impor- 
tance in the melody of speech. The triad, by possessing the 
peculiar characteristic of a close, and occurring more rarely 
than the other phrases, does more emphatically affect the ear ; 
whilst its position at the end of a sentence, subjects it to a criti- 
cal examination, in the leisure of the consequent pause. It is 
well known to those who have observed learners, that the pro- 
per management of the descent of the voice in reading, is ac- 
quired with difficulty, and often not until long after the current 
melody is practicable without any obvious error. I have 
known offensive deviations from the true rule of the cadence, 
committed by actors of long practice and considerable skill, 
who would have guarded their utterance against the alleged 
faults, if their studies, instead of being compiled from imita- 
tion, had been directed by those principles, which well obser- 
ved nature informs us should govern the high endeavours of 
speech. 

In the first section of this essay, 1 endeavoured to explain 
the meaning of the word key, as significative of a certain ar- 
rangement of the elements of the musical scale ; and I now 
proceed to inquire with what propriety the term is applied to 
the melodial ranges of the speaking voice. 

The term key, as a generic appellation, means the proper 
succession of tones and semitones in the diatonic scale. It in- 
cludes several species of a similar order of successions, carried 
on from each of the several places of the scale, as the begin- 
ning of those similar orders. It was shown that there are 
twelve keys, founded on the semitonic divisions : within each 
of which, an air or melody may be restrictively performed ; 
with the regulated means, however, of conducting that melody 
from one to another through the whole twelve. But an agree- 
able melody may likewise be made upon a progression of the 
scale in which the places of the semitones differ from those of 
the progression, described in the first section. This gives rise to 
two different modes of the diatonic scale. In one a semitone lies 
between the third and fourth notes, and between the seventh 



MELODY OF SPEECH. Ill 

and the octave, as taught formerly ; constituting the kind of 
succession called the Major scale or mode. In the other a se- 
mitone lies between the second and third notes, and the fifth 
and sixth in descending the scale, and between the second and 
third, and the seventh and eighth in ascending ; forming the 
succession of the Minor mode. Now as there are twelve points 
of the scale from which a diatonic series may be arranged, so 
there may be twenty-four keys : twelve constructed by the 
Major mode and twelve by the Minor. A melody formed on 
the series of the latter has a plaintive expression, arising from 
the peculiar position of the semitones. But we shall see here- 
after that the plaintiveness of speech is produced by an entirely 
different method of intonation. 

The melody of Music, whether in the major or the minor 
scale, is made by progressions, both of skips and conjoint de- 
grees, through the series of five tones and two semitones in any 
given key ; and the song or movement, so constructed, is ter- 
minated with entire satisfaction to the ear, when brought to a 
close on the first point of the series, which is called the key 
note. 

The melody of plain narrative or unimpassioned Speech is 
made by progressions of conjoint degrees only ; and its satis- 
factory close at a period of discourse, is effected by a descent 
of its radical pitch through three conjoint degrees, with a down- 
ward concrete from the last. The scale of the speaking voice 
has no interspersed semitones; nor is it limited, like that of 
music, to a peculiar arrangement of seven constituent inter- 
vals. If we suppose a person to possess the ability of speaking 
distinctly through a compass often diatonic degrees, included 
between the lowest pitch of articulate utterance and the highest 
point of the natural voice, the melody may, by the use of pro- 
per phrases, be carried through any wandering course of ascent 
and descent, within these boundaries. Let the speaker take 
the first syllable of a sentence, on the first place of this suppo- 
sed range. A ditone will raise the melody to the second, and 
an additional concrete, on that second place, will make the 
phrase of the monotone. From this, a ditone will lead him 
upwards to the third place ; and in like manner ascending, the 
melody may be carried to the tenth. Now from this utmost 
elevation, a falling ditone will bring him to the ninth : a mono- 



112 THE DIATONIC 

tone on this will prepare the voice for another ditone-descent 
to the eighth. Having by a similar progress reached the third 
place, the triad of the cadence, or a dbwnward tritone with the 
falling concrete of its final constituent, will close the melody 
on the first. 

In this scheme, I have conducted the melody formally up 
and down, in order to elucidate the means of changing the 
pitch, without the forbidden movement of several directly suc- 
cessive rising or falling concretes. But it is due to remark 
that the rising tritone may also be used in ascending ; that the 
progress may be varied by using, at will, a longer monotone, 
and by deferring the rise or fall, through the occasional em- 
ployment of a phrase of contrary movement. It is by avoiding 
an ascent and descent of more than three concretes in succes- 
sion, that the desirable changes through acuteness and gravity 
in speech, may be effected in an easy and agreeable manner : 
for the beauty of melody consists, not only in skilfully varying 
the order of phrases, as they move onwards, but likewise in 
correctly managing the rise and fall through the whole compass 
of pitch. The following notation shows the progress of the 
voice, through a compass of nine diatonic degrees: the rule of 
the rise and fall being observed, and the melody being therein 
agreeably diversified. 



If thou 


dost 


slan- 


der her 


and 


tor- 


— ture me, 
















■^-r 




&- 




W cf 


«/ 


4f 


It tf 


W. — 


t* 


w w— 






-■ 


Ne — ver 


pray 


more: 


a— ban-don 


all 












«r 4 


«T 


A 


^ 


aT 


¥ 


¥i 


—w • 


—v 


\ 


¥4* 










On hor- 


— ror's 


head 


hor rors 


ac 


-cu 


-mu — late ; 




V * 


y 


*f 


9f ^ 


¥ 


*r 


^ 


—w — x — » ■» ■» » ^ — 





MELODY OF SPEECH. 113 



Do deeds to make Heaven weep, all earth a — mazed : 



y~¥ r ~~^ r 



For no-thing 


canst 


thou 


to 


dam — 


--na — tion 


add, 


^ 


# J J 


aT 


4- 


* 


+ 


& & 
















* 





Great — 


er 


than 


that. 






9 


U 














-v 



The above notation is designed to exemplify exclusively the 
means for moving through the compass of the voice. If it were 
the place here to speak of the emphatic expression of this for- 
cible passage, other modes of both the radical and concrete 
pitch would be used and explained. These points will be con- 
sidered hereafter. At the two colon pauses, which in correct 
reading will not bear a full close, I have set the less conspicu- 
ous interruption of the feeble cadence. 

From the foregoing account of the musical and speaking 
scales, it may be learned that though their respective constitu- 
ent intervals and melodical progressions differ from each other, 
yet with reference to the philosophic sense of the word key, 
there is some discoverable, yet the slightest, similarity between 
them. For since in speech, the descent of three degrees of 
radical pitch with a downward vanish at the last, always pro- 
duces a cadence, or effects something like the consummation of 
a key note in music, — it follows that in a voice, with a compass 
often diatonic degrees, as above supposed, every degree, ex- 
cept the two highest, may be the place of what we will here 
call a key note of speech : and consequently, that this voice 
might be said to have eight keys. But there is a difficulty 
in the specification of the keys of spoken melody, which can 
not be obviated. When a musical melody is said to be in a 



114 THE DIATONIC 






particular key, the expression designates exactly the position 
of its key-note. But the melody of speech can not be said, 
with precision, to be in any one key, except the assertion is 
made of the monotone, since the constituents of this phrase 
alone have the same key-note. When a cadence is made on 
any of the other phrases, the triad which descends to a close 
from one of its constituents, must differ from the triad de- 
scending from another. 

Such being the fruitless purpose of attempting to designate 
the key of a single phrase, how much more indefinitely must 
a particular key be affirmed of a current melody, composed of 
a continually varying succession of phrases. Definitiveness 
of key may be affirmed of the cadence, because the succession 
of its radicals, ard the place of its closing concrete, are un- 
alterably fixed. Looking on the triad as determining the key, 
a particular key may be appropriated to each degree of the vo- 
cal compass ; and consequently the key of a current melody 
must perpetually change. If therefore any reference is made 
to the key in speech, the proper designation should be, by the 
plural term, keys of the melody. 

The peculiar structure of the musical scale ; the necessity 
for rules to govern the changes from one key to another ; the 
purposes of Concerting and of harmonical composition, led to 
the definite nomenclature and arrangement of musical keys. 
But should the doctrine of key be at all kept in view, in the 
art of speaking, the purely diatonic structure of the scale, and, 
if I dare so compound terms, the strictly solo-vocal office of 
speech, perhaps call for no nearer precision than a classifica- 
tion into the upper, middle and lower keys of the voice. 

From this view of the speaking voice, it may be understood, 
why in the notation of its melody I have used only the staff 
of the musical tablature, without reference to its cliffs or its 
signatures. Cliffs are used in music for the purposes of Con- 
certing ; by determining with precision the proper places 
of pitch for several voices or instruments, when moving in 
accompaniment. They are therefore useless to the singleness 
of speech. The melody of speech being altogether diatonic, 
has no rule for constructing keys, arising out of the fixed 
places of the semitones, as in the musical scale. Consequently 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 115 

there is no need of the prefixed signatures of flats and sharps : 
the naked lines and spaces of the staff, denoting the extent and 
relationships of pitch, afford sufficient means for illustrating 
the intonation of speech. 

The term modulation is used, in music, to signify the tran- 
sitions of melody and of harmonic composition, from one key 
to another. The question of the propriety of this term, as 
significative of analogous changes in the melody of speech, is 
involved in the question of the propriety of the application of 
the musical term key to the mere variations of pitch in the 
speaking voice : and we have seen the almost universal differ- 
ence between the regular system of keys in music, and the 
melodial method of speech. 

The preceding remarks, on the musical and speaking scales, 
were intended to exhibit the relationships between their re- 
spective functions : but it appears from comparison, that there 
is no systematic analogy to justify the transfer of the terms 
key and modulation from music to speech. The transfer was, 
however, long ago made, and the terms are still continued un- 
der a total ignorance of the nature of the speaking scale. 
When the truth of the analysis, set forth in this section, shall 
be admitted, it will be obligatory on all those who take delight 
in accuracy of knowledge, to distinguish, by appropriate 
names, those ideas which negligence will have suffered to 
pass as identical. If the musical terms key and modulation 
had not received an unmeaning admission into the nomencla- 
ture of the speaking voice, the description of its melody would 
not, in these last pages, have been complicated with the record 
of the waste work of investigation, which the inquirer loves 
to expunge and forget, after he has made out the simple story 
of truth. And had the hitherto untried subject of melody been 
happily exculpated from the prejudice and false witnessing of 
its adopted nomenclature, the unargued and unbiassed history 
of its changes would have been given thus : — 

The melody of the speaking voice, may be led, ascending 
and descending, through its whole compass, by a certain mode 
of diatonic succession : and may be brought to the satisfactory 
close, heard at a full period of discourse, by the descent of ra- 
dical pitch through three conjoint degrees with a final down- 
ward concrete, from any point within the compass. 



116 THE DIATONIC MELODY OF SPEECH. 

If I have not here followed the preferred brevity, nor omit- 
ted the detail which produced the conclusion that the doctrine 
of key and modulation is hardly applicable to speech ; it was 
because I certainly anticipated the inquiries which the habit of 
nomenclature would suggest ; and because I chose, perhaps 
advantageously, to introduce, into the recorded investigation, 
some further or varied views upon the melody of speech. 

In reviewing the subject just closed, I fear the described 
phenomena of sound, may not be immediately recognised, nor 
the system of their combination definitely comprehended. 
These defaults may proceed not only from the inaptitude of 
the mind to embrace newly offered subjects of knowledge, but 
likewise from the connected system of such subjects being 
dimly arrayed before the very sight which was able to discover 
their insulated truths. The art of observation is but a matter 
of apprenticeship and practice ; and it is the time of employ 
no less than the mode of handling, that produces the high excel- 
lence of a master. Thoughts which are not impressed by the 
deep sealing of time, nor familiarized by the near acquaintance 
of habit, are feeble or deluding agents in the arduous task of 
comparison and arrangement : for it will be found that the au- 
thor who begins or who renovates a science, rarely adds the 
clearest economy of system to his work. To look widely, yet 
closely, is the paradox of the powers of heaven : and he who 
can span the broad compass of a science, whilst he touches its 
divisions and points, is partially raised above the bounded 
prospects of humanity, by this humble tendency towards om- 
niscience. To him is due that rich compliment by the saga- 
cious Greek ; who knowing upon what transcendent faculty to 
affix the crown of intellectual glory, declared, that — he who 
can arrange and define well, might be fit company for the Gods. 



THE EXPRESSION OF SPEECH. 117 



SECTION VII. 



Of the Expression of Speech. 



In the preceding section 1 pointed out the mode of utterance 
in plain narrative and description : comprehending under these 
terms that portion of discourse, which conveys the mere 
thoughts of the speaker, exclusively of those sentiments or 
feelings which require a different form of melody and a higher 
coloring of intonation. Schoolmen make a distinction be- 
tween thoughts and feelings, and common usage has adopted 
their language. This is not the place for controversy on this 
point : nor is it necessary to inquire, deliberately, whether 
the above distinction refers to the essential nature of the 
things, or to their degrees. Some whose powers of analysis 
enable them to see beyond the common reach, may be dis- 
posed to adopt the system that supposes thoughts and feelings 
to be various degrees of intensity in ideas : since that function 
which may be noted as a mere thought in one, has in another, 
from its urgency, and without apparent specific difference, the 
bright hue of a feeling ; and since in the same person at dif- 
ferent times, like circumstances produce, according to the 
varied susceptibility of excitement, the mental condition of 
either a feeling or a thought. Perhaps it might not be a diffi- 
cult or tedious task, to show that these functions of the mind 
have many accidents in common ; and that no definite line of 
demarkation can be drawn between them. However insepa- 
rably involved these accidents may be, at their points of affi- 
nity, they are in their more remote relationships, either in 
kind or degree distinguishably different. The effect of the 
voice in conveying these manifest peculiarities of sentiment or 
feeling, is called, in the language of Elocution, the Expression 
of speech. 

The classifications of science were, instituted to assist the 
memory and imagination ; but while they fulfil the purpose 



118 THE EXPRESSION OP SPEECH. 

of communicating and preserving knowledge, they unfortu- 
nately produce the undesigned hindrance of its alteration or 
advancement, by their vain assumption of its completion. The 
numberless revolutions in scientific arrangements are full of 
admonitions : yet we forget how often the fictitious affinities 
and the distinctions of system, have on the one hand presump- 
tuously united the real divisions of nature, and on the other 
broken the beautiful connexion of the circle of truth. 

In submission to common phraseology and to the necessities 
of instruction, I have, in this essay, separated the history of 
that part, which, for the want of a better term, was called the 
simple narrative of speech, from that which treats of its ex- 
pressive signs ; with the hope that future observation may de- 
termine their real relationships, by a full development of the 
nature of the mind and the voice. For I can as well suppose 
all those works of usefulness are already accomplished, which 
are foretold by the scope of human faculties, as that the arts 
whieh employ taste, have yielded up all the accuracy of their 
principles, and their sources of enjoyment. Let us leave the 
seventh day of rest, to the holiday rejoicing of patriots and 
politicians, who look upon their copied creations, and cunning 
schemes for human misery, and pronounce them original and 
finished and good. Let them build strongly around the per- 
fection of their Chartas and Constitutions. Let them guard 
the ark of a forefather's wisdom, and proclaim its holiness to 
the people, for the safety, honor and emolument of the keeper. 
The real creators of Knowledge have never yet found, and 
perhaps never will find, their day of rest : and the proud fore- 
fathers of all the great works of usefulness and of glory, are, 
by means of that same magic which raised their own extraor- 
dinary creations, transmuted to corrigible children in the eye 
of the advancing labour of a later age. 

It has been alleged of the expression of speech, that the dis- 
crimination of its modes is beyond the ability of the human ear. 
If the term human ear is sarcastically used for that fruitlessly 
busy and slavish organ, which has so long listened for the clear 
voice of nature, amid the conflicting tumult of opinion and au- 
thority, we must admit the truth of the assertion. But it is 
not true of the keen, industrious, and independent exercise of 
the senses : nor can it be affirmed, without profanity, of that 



THE EXPRESSION OF SPEECH. 119 

supreme power of observation which was deputed at creation, 
for the effective gathering of truth, and the progressive im- 
provement of mankind. 

Our conquests in knowledge must be the joint achievement 
of numbers and time. Leaving then to futurity the completion 
of my design, I looked around for present assistance : and hav- 
ing often, with more need than hope, consulted the thoughts of 
others, on the possibility of delineating the signs of expression, 
I generally received some query like this : — Is it possible 
to recognize and measure all those delicate variations of sound, 
which have passed so long without detection, and which seem 
scarcely more amenable to sense than the atoms of air on which 
they are made ? — It is possible to do all this : and if we can not 
find a way for this victory over nature, l let us,' — with the 
maxim, and in the contriving spirit and resolution of the great 
Carthagenian Captain, 'let us make one.' 

It will not be denied, that the sounds constituting expression 
may be distinctly heard, and that there is no danger of mista- 
king the sentiments which dictate them. No : — it is the mea- 
surable nature and commingling variety of these sounds that 
can not be distinguished. I leave it to those who make this 
objection, to reflect on the truism, that there is nothing in the 
nature of sound but audibility : and, as our feelings are so rea- 
dily recognized in its varieties, to ask themselves whether a 
distinct measurement is not implied in that recognition. The 
truth is, the delicate sounds of expression are always distinctly 
heard, and so far as quick perception of their sentiments, may 
prove the assertion, are actually measured in the strictest 
meaning of the word : but they have never been named. And 
although all persons who are observant in this way, have nearly 
an equally acute perception of the expression of speech, they 
have no language for designating those delicate discriminations 
which are every day unconsciously made even by the popular 
ear. I propose to devote the remaining sections of this essay 
to an analysis of expression : to point out its symbols, and to 
assign a definite nomenclature to them. 

There is perhaps no vain confidence in supposing, that the 
reader is now well acquainted with the properties of the radical 
and vanishing movement. This wide reaching function, and 
master principle of the voice, has been represented under its 
varied phases, in speech, song and recitative. We have traced 



120 THE EXPRESSION OF SPEECH. 

it in the literal elements : have seen its influence in directing 
the phenomena of syllables : and measured its successions in 
melody. I have yet to show its instrumentality in the delicate 
work of expression: and if 1 shall be able thereby to resolve 
this marvellous mystery of nature, it will be by substituting 
that greater marvel of agency, in which a strict economy of 
means is employed for the production of her infinities. 

The general affections of sound were described in the first 
section of this essay. In summary repetition, they are, — 
Quality, or kind of sound ; Time ; Force or the variations of 
strength and weakness ; Pitch or the variations of acuteness 
and gravity ; and Abruptness. These distinctions are univer- 
sally known. 

A delicate perceptibility may easily learn that each of these 
genera of sound is inclusive of many species, with their differ- 
ent degrees ; and that noticeable phenomena result from the 
combination of the different species of any one genus, with 
those of another. In the following series, some of the func- 
tions arising out of the five genera, and their mutual combina- 
tions, are enumerated by the adopted or the invented terms, 
under which they will be hereafter more particularly described. 



Quality, 

Time, 

Melody, 

Pause, 

Grouping, 

Aspiration, 

Octave, 

Fifth, 

Third, 

Semitone, 

Downward Concrete, 



Wave, 
Tremor, 
Force, 

Radical stress, 
Median stress, 
Vanishing stress, 
Thorough stress, 
Compound stress, 
Loud Concrete, 
Accent, 
Emphasis. 



These are some of the heads of arrangement which I have 
devised, for the purpose of opening the way for a fuller and 
more definite account of the doctrine of expression : and 1 hope 
the reader will find, in the detailed consideration of these ele- 
ments, some approximation towards the development of this 
interesting department of speech. 



THE QUALITY OF THE VOICE. 121 



SECTION VIII. 



Of the Quality or Kind of Voice. 



The Qualities of voice employed as the means of expression, 
are those of the Whispering, the Natural, the Falsette and the 
Orotund voices : and those varieties embraced by the common 
nomenclature of harsh, rough, soft, smooth, full, thin and 
slender. 

There are certain conditions of thought, instinctively asso- 
ciated with appropriate species of these qualities. The whis- 
per always denotes the intention of secrecy : the falsette is used 
for the emphatic scream of terror, pain and surprise : and the 
orotund voice alone gives satisfactory expression to the feeling 
of dignity and deliberation. The natural voice is accommoda- 
ted to the moderate or lively sentiments of colloquial dialogue, 
and of familiar lecture and discourse. It is not necessary to 
particularize here, the sentiments which call for the harsh, soft, 
full and slender qualities of the voice. The history of their 
specific appropriation, in the art of reading, may be satisfacto- 
rily learned from the common books of professors. 

Regarding these qualities as distributed among mankind, 
some voices are restricted to harshness, or to softness. Few 
persons have by nature, a pure orotund. Some speak alto- 
gether in a meagre falsette : and women are apt to use it in 
careless pronunciation. There are however few voices which 
may not, by diligent cultivation, be made capable of exhibiting 
all the above named qualities. 

The elements of expression derived from the kind of voice, 
are not to be regarded solely in the simple and insulated light 
in which they are here represented. They are susceptible of 
combination with the various modes and degrees of force, time, 
pitch and abruptness. In short, quality of voice must necessa- 
rily be united with some of the degrees of the other genera. 
For whatever be the kind, it will be either strong or weak , 

Q 



122 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

its time must be long or short ; its emission will be abrupt or 
gradual, and it must be of some definite radical or concrete 
pitch. Certain qualities of the voice are, however, exclusively 
congenial with particular conditions of these other accidents : 
thus smoothness will more generally affect the moderate de- 
grees of force. Similar congenialities may be discovered by 
the slightest reflection. 

It would be easy to. select from authors and from familiar 
discourse, phrases or sentences that require respectively the 
kinds of voice here enumerated. But I designed originally, to 
limit the pages of this work, consistently with the intention of 
definite description ; aiming to make known the hitherto un- 
told elementary principles of speech, rather than to burthen 
the shelves of literature with compilation. There is no mode 
of diagram that can represent these qualities of sound: and 
every attempt to make them plainer than they already stand, 
in their metaphorical designation, would be without success. 



, ■n>>Q fo) QtUI » 



SECTION IX, 



Of the Time of the Voice. 



The degrees of duration of the voice, represented by the 
terms long, short, quick and slow, are among the most effec- 
tual means of expression. 

To be definite, let long and short designate the time of syl- 
lables relatively to each other ; and let quick and slow refer to 
the utterance ofany series or aggregate of words. Thus a syl- 
lable may be said to have a long or short time, or Quantity, as 
it is usually called in this case ; and a phrase, an entire sen- 
tence or a larger portion of discourse may be said to be pro- 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 123 

ftounced in quick or slow time. The occasions for employing 
these last modes of time are well known. Sentiments of dig- 
nity, deliberation, doubt and grief affect the slow time : those 
of gaiety, anger and eager argument, together with parenthe- 
tic phrases assume the quick time in utterance. 

I find it necessary however to be more particular on the sub- 
ject of the length and shortness of individual syllables, com- 
paratively considered ; and to extend the analysis somewhat 
beyond the reach of ordinary prosodial distinctions. 

The times of syllables exhibit undistinguishable shades of dif- 
ference, from the shortest utterable to their utmost prolonga- 
tion in oratorical expression. In order to reduce this indefi- 
nite view of time, to such distinctions as may serve for future 
reference, let us arrange syllables under three classes : the first 
embracing those which are fixed to the shortest quantity : the 
second, those that are fixed or nearly so, to a quantity of some- 
what greater duration than that of the first : the third, those 
that in common pronunciation, are of various lengths, from 
the shortest to the longest, but which may be indefinitely ex- 
tended. 

To the first class belong many of those syllables terminated 
by an abrupt element ; and containing a tonic, or an additional 
subtonic, or the further addition of an atonic, such as ' at,' ' ap,' 
1 ek,' hap-\ess, pit-fall, ac-cep-iance. It is not the shortness 
alone of syllables which constitutes the criterion of this class; 
since some that belong to the third, are in common usage equal- 
ly short. The syllables new under consideration, have this 
essential characteristic, — they can not be prolonged, but with 
deformed pronunciation. The word ( convict,' when accented 
on the first as a noun, and on the last as a verb, has in plain 
orthoepy, a certain quantity allotted to each syllable. If, for 
the purpose of oratorical expression, with the noun, the time 
of the first syllable is indefinitely increased, the identical char- 
acter of the word still remains, notwithstanding that prolonga- 
tion. But when we give the last syllable of the verb, a simi- 
lar extension, its pronunciation, is, through the drawling utter- 
ance, remarkably deformed. The syllables assigned to this 
first class, not admitting of any alteration in quantity, may be 
called Immutable syllables. I shall hereafter show their rela- 



124 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

tions to the movements of pitch, and to the functions of accent 
and emphasis. 

To the second class belong most of those syllables which ter- 
minate by an abrupt element, and which contain one or more 
subtonics or atonies, in union with a short tonic. The subto- 
nics in this case give a greater length than belongs to the sylla- 
bles of the preceding class ; while the abrupt element and the 
short tonic prevent an indefinite prolongation. Of this class 
are 'yet,' 'what,' 'mate,' 'gratitude,' l des-truc-tion.' In 
these instances the syllables are longer than the immutables ; 
and for the purpose of expression, the subtonics may be slightly 
extended beyond their natural length, in simple utterance. 
But if they should be unduly prolonged, something of the same 
offensive drawl of pronunciation will be perceived, which is 
experienced in the greatest degree from the forced extension of 
the immutable class. As those included under the present 
head admit of some change of quantity, they may be called 
Mutable syllables. 

To the third class belong all those syllables which terminate 
with a tonic element, or with any of the subtonics, excepting 
b, d, and g. Of this nature are 'go,' 'thee,' 'for,' 'day,' 
'man,' 'till,' 'de-lay,' 'he-guile,' ' ex-treme,' 'er-ro-ne- 
ous.' If the speaker has a ready command over the subtonics 
b, d, and g, so as to give full audibility to their essential guttu- 
ral murmur, their position, at the end of a syllable, does not 
absolutely prevent an indefinite prolongation, as in the words 
'deed,' 'plague,' 'babe,' 'res-tored.' But the effect in these 
cases is by no means to be compared with that of an extension 
of time upon tonics and other subtonics. In the above pure ex- 
amples of this class, it will be found, that to whatever neces- 
sary degree the quantity may be prolonged, the character of 
the syllable will still be preserved, without any of that disa- 
greeable effect, which is produced by an indefinite increase of 
time, under the preceding classes. It is the peculiar nature of 
these syllables, that they seem to be the same under every de- 
gree of duration ; while the immutable and mutable, in some 
cases almost lose their identity by too great an addition to their 
time. From their allowable variety, the syllables of this class 
may be said to be of indefinite quantity ; or may be called In- 
definite syllables. They furnish important means for the ex- 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 125 

pression of speech ; some of its most effective elements, as will 
be shown hereafter, being made on syllables which admit of 
this indefinite prolongation. 

I do not desire the reader to receive the foregoing classifica- 
tion, as one that should exclusively govern his view of the 
syllables of our language. The investigation of the causes of 
expression very soon suggested to me the necessity of other 
distinctions of quantity than those of long and short ; which, 
after a millennium and more, of pretending observations, we 
continue to transcribe from the record of the meagre analysis 
of Greek and Latin prosody. The phenomena of expression 
directed the divisions here made ; and the propriety of them, 
on this ground, may perhaps be hereafter acknowledged. 
However short of universality this proposed system may 
reach, even its limited arrangement will be necessary for the 
explanation of future parts of this essay ; and whatever may be 
thought of its sufficiency, I must still believe it is high time 
for the superannuated sages of classical literature to throw aside 
the Greek and Roman spectacles, in their prosodial researches ; 
and to try if time, with his new lights, may not have wrought 
upon them, one of those renovations of sense, which have now 
and then resuscitated the torpid perceptions of extreme lon- 
gevity. 

The power of giving indefinite prolongation to syllables, for 
the purpose of expression, is not commonly possessed by 
speakers. It is true, the daily exercise of the voice is not des- 
titute of forcible expression ; but daily discourse is generally 
that of mere narration or description ; and its sentiments, those 
of active argument, or of contending interests, both of which 
employ, for the most part, the short time of syllables, and the 
quick course of utterance. Still the assertion that a long quan- 
tity is not easily practicable, may seem to the reader, incom- 
prehensible or false : since all who are able to sing, protract 
their notes to an indefinite length ; and there is no person who 
does not utter interjections and cries in the same manner. But 
the mode of prolongation to which 1 here allude, is that of the 
equable concrete of speech. Three modes of the radical and 
vanishing movement were formerly described as respectively 
used in speaking, and in song, and recitative. Without having 
regard to the nature and uses of these three functions, it is not 



126 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

easy to restrict them to their appropriate places. A reader who 
has not from practice, a facility in executing the prolonged 
quantity of speech, will be liable, in extending his syllables, 
to fall into the protracted radical or vanish of song. When 
persons of imperfect ear, and without a singing voice, by acci- 
dent observe, remember, and endeavour to imitate the melodial 
succession of an air, they are apt to utter many of its notes, in 
the equable concrete of speech. Protracted cries, and inter- 
jections which are only more moderate cries, are always made 
either by the note of song, or by a mode of pitch, to be called 
hereafter the Wave, or by movements through the higher in- 
tervals of the scale: and though these intervals and the wave are 
both proper to speech, yet the prolonged voice in such cases is 
the forced effect of passion, which not operating to this high de- 
gree, on the ordinary occasions of reading and speech, the 
cause is not habitual, and the practice not confirmed. 

The foregoing notice of the exclusion of the peculiar intona- 
tions of song and recitative from speech, furnishes one reason 
why those persons who possess high accomplishments as sing- 
ers, are nevertheless indifferent readers or common place actors. 
I shall in a proper place, endeavour to show other reasons for 
the general want of interchangeable facility, in the exercise of 
the arts of song and speech. That to which I now allude, and 
which arises from the different structures of the radical and 
vanish in the two cases is not the least influential. The en- 
dowed singer may have at command all the means of expression 
which are used in song. But these are not transferable to the 
equable concrete of speech ; and while he is able to clothe 
every sentiment of the composer, his attempts at recitation, 
strip off or tear to pieces, every feeling of the poet. 

But to return from this account of the nature of the concrete, 
to the consideration of the uses of its varied quantity. The 
immutable, mutable and indefinite times of syllables, have 
their appropriate mode of fulfilling the purposes of expression. 
But the opportunity which the indefinite time affords for pro- 
ducing some of its higher effects, must be regarded as of the 
very first importance in the exercise of speech. This sub- 
ject will be illustrated in future parts of this essay. Readers 
who are ignorant of the principles of quantity, are yet aware 
of the necessity of a slow movement, for the expression of cer- 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 127 

tain sentiments. They therefore endeavour to supply the de- 
ficiency of their power over the long concrete, by slight pauses 
between words, and even between syllables. But nature and 
good taste allow no compensation of this sort : they require 
much of the time which characterizes deliberate utterance, to 
be spent on the syllable itself, and reject every other mode as 
offensive monotony or as affectation. 

Eminent instances of the essential importance of long quan- 
tity may be shown, by considering some existing defects in 
the syllabic construction of sentences with reference to expres- 
sion : for since the display of certain sentiments requires the 
prolonged time of indefinite syllables, it may happen that such 
sentiments are to be expressed on the limited duration of a 
mutable, or the mere moment of an immutable syllable. I here 
illustrate my meaning by a passage from the fourth book of 
Paradise Lost, where Satan is brought before Gabriel. In the 
dialogue between them, one of the replications of Satan is as 
follows : 

' Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain, 

Insulting angel! well thou know'st I stood 

Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid, 

The blasting vollied thunder made all speed, 

And seconded thy else not dreaded spear. 

But still thy words at random, as before, 

Argue thy inexperience what behoves 

From hard assays and ill successes past 

A faithful leader, not to hazard all 

Through ways of danger by himself untried : 

I, therefore, I alone first undertook 

To wing the desolate abyss, and spy 

This new created world, whereof in Hell 

Fame is not silent, here in hope to find 

Better abode, and my afflicted powers 

To settle here on earth, or in mid air; 

Though for possession put to try once more 

What thou and thy gay legions dare against ; 

Whose easier business were to serve their Lord 

High up in heaven, with songs to hymn his throne. 

And practis'd distances to cringe, not fight.' 

I have marked in italics, the words on which an indefinite 
quantity is required for the full measure of expression. The 
word 'insulting,' when interpreted by the context, contains 



128 ' THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

the mingled indications of complaint, pride and reproach ; and 
these require an element of pitch to be mentioned hereafter, 
which is made with a long quantity, and which consequently 
can not be here employed with satisfactory expression on the 
emphatic syllable ' suit.' This syllable belongs to our class of 
mutables, and can not be prolonged to the necessary degree, 
except by extending the natural time of the monothong e-rr, 
which is here represented by ( u,' or by drawing out the sub- 
tonic ' 1 ;' either of whieh modes would deform pronunciation. 
The second instance, marked in the mutable syllable 'dread,' 
contains a declaration of slight contempt \ and this, I shall say 
hereafter requires an element of expression which calls for a 
duration of voice not allowed by the natural quantity of the 
syllable. The last marked phrase of the foregoing passage 
affords a more conspicuous illustration of the subject before us : 
for of the words ' not fight,' the first is mutable, and the last 
which is strictly immutable, does not admit of prolongation, 
without a disgusting departure from correct pronunciation. 
Now the sentiments of this phrase are those of strong contempt, 
and of exultation, the expressive symbol of which must be 
made upon an indefinite time. A reader of discernment and 
delicate feeling can never satisfy his ear on these words. 

To a bad reader all sentences are alike, however improperly 
constructed for the use of the elements of expression. A good 
reader, who looks abroad through all the ways of the voice, 
must often find the tendencies of his utterance in regard to 
time, restricted by the unyielding nature of an immutable 
phraseology. The humblest exercise of art, and any mode of 
quantity suffice to set forth the sense of an author ; but the 
picture of passion, will be in many cases imperfect, if made on 
the short time of syllables. He who can assume the spirit of 
the poet, will not be able to give the prompted expression to 
part of the last line of the following passage. It is taken from 
Gabriel's answer to Satan's apology for his flight from Hell, 
formerly quoted, and is a comment on the title of * faithful 
leader' vaunted by Satan. 

O name, 
O sacred name of faithfulness profan'd ! 
Faithful to whom 1 to thy rebellious crew 1 
Army of Fiends, Jit body to fit head. 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 129 

The six syllables of this last phrase are short, and all the em- 
phatic ones are immutable. They contain a degree of admira- 
tion at the well marked fellowship between a ringleader and 
his crew, mingled with scorn at the wicked faithfulness of the 
rebellious outcast : and these sentiments, we shall learn here- 
after, can not be eminently shown on the abrupt shortness of 
the time here employed. With an accomplished speaker, the 
management of this phrase would be like the efforts of a musi- 
cian of feeling and skill, on a defective instrument : and the 
different success of his voice, on the above short syllables, and 
on indefinite quantities would be like the inexpressive chatter- 
ing of the harp or piano-forte, compared with the rich resources 
of the violoncello. 

The abrupt and atonic elements produce, in discourse, many 
instances of syllabic construction that hamper expression : But 
perhaps the greater number of sentences admit of the voices 
which their sentiments require. For it is not absolutely ne- 
cessary that every word should join in the expression. One 
or two well accommodated quantities sometimes sufficiently 
convey the sentiment of the sentence. The syllable ' Par' of 
the following line has a natural quantity, which, without im- 
propriety, may be doubled or more in expressive utterance ; 
and the same may be said of ' bleed.' 

Pardon me thou bleeding piece of earth, 

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ! 

The circumstances of the scene of Julius Caesar, from which 
this is taken, inform us that Mark Antony's sentiments, as 
first expressed in the passage, are those of love, grief and contri- 
tion ; his feeling of revenge does not appear until the second 
line. Those sentiments, I shall show hereafter, call particu- 
larly for an extension of syllables. If I am right in the inter- 
pretation, the words 'pardon' and 'bleeding' are emphatic, 
since they respectively picture the special object of the suppli- 
ant, and the disastrous assassination, which, with self reproach, 
he had delayed to punish. The accented syllables of these 
words admitthe prolonged concrete ; and the application of the 
proper element, to them alone, spreads the coloring of expres- 
sion over the whole of the sentence. 

In the preceding illustration, the reader may discover some 
R 



• 



130 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

ground for the arrangement of syllables, according to their 
time, in reference to the subject of expression. But there is 
another fact in the history of syllabic quantity. We know that 
from the restricted resources of language the same word has in 
different sentences, a varied meaning. It is still more common 
to find the same word imbued with a different sentiment, in its 
changeable combinations with other words. Now as some 
sentiments are only properly represented by a short and abrupt 
utterance, it follows that a word or syllable, which on one oc- 
casion frustrates the designs of feeling by resisting the required 
prolongation, may in another place fulfil the purpose of expres- 
sion on its immutable quantity. It was shown in an example 
that the word ' fight' was incapable of the extension necessary 
for the full display of the sentiment of scorn. When Hamlet 
in the violent scene with Laertes says, 

Why, I will fight with him upon this theme, 
Until my eye-lids will no longer wag: 

the quick time of the whole sentence is generically inclusive of 
the short time of its constituent syllables : and the immutable 
quantity of the word ' fight' admits of that abruptness and force 
of accent which fully denote the mad but resolute rage of the 
prince. 

Interjections are the only part of speech employed exclu- 
sively for the purposes of expression. Those which are com- 
mon to all languages, consist of tonics, that freely admit of in- 
definite prolongation. Interjections are the instincts of the 
animal voice ; and nature has alloted them that extendible 
quantity which is adapted to the demands of feeling. Other 
parts of speech are sometimes the pictures of mere thought, 
and sometimes of sentiment : and so it happens that there is a 
difference in the time of syllables. If words had been invent- 
ed for signs of feeling only, most of them would have been 
made with a prolonged voice. As the tonic elements may be 
uttered either as long or short quantities, and as the abrupt and 
atonic, in certain positions, necessarily produce short time, it 
might be inferred that a language which consists entirely of 
tonic sounds, would be better suited to all the purposes of the 
voice, than a language which contains elements productive of 
immutable quantity. But some sentiments are well repre- 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 131 

sented by a short quantity and sudden issue of sound : and the 
abrupt elements are, in some of their positions, merely the best 
contrived means for producing that suddenness with the great- 
est variety and force.* And further, the atonies, though not 
in their own nature explosive, yet arrest the concrete progress 
of vocality, and thus allow a succeeding tonic readily to take 
on the abrupt opening. A language made up of sounds, hav- 
ing the qualities of our tonic, subtonic, atonic, and abrupt ele- 
ments, is well accomodated to the system of those expressive 
signs, which nature has ordained throughout the whole vocal 
creation. 

The design of employing the prolonged time of the voice, in 
the emphatic places of discourse, with a view to an expressive 
intonation, seems never to have been thought of by ordinary 
writers : and it has been so sparingly exhibited, if indeed it 
has been at all contemplated by the elect of literature, that it 
has never received formal notice either in Rhetoric or in Elo- 
cution. Dramatists, to whose taste and duty this remark is 
especially applicable, frequently neglect that proper adaptation 
of time, which would afford an actor the means of adding the 
finishing touches of his voice, to the vivid and forcible picture 
of poetic composition. 

The judicious use of the variations of time is the very life 
of recitation, and the right hand of the rythmus of poetry and 
prose. 

The human ear has cognizance of two kinds of proportion in 
the quantity of sound : one embracing the relationships of its 
forces, the other of its durations. 

The first consists in the perception of impressions of unequal 
force alternately successive. Of this there are many species, 
derived from the order of succession, or the number of the 
varied impulses ; as exhibited in the following illustration, 
where the first species shows a heavy impulse followed by a 
lighter one ; the second, one heavy followed by two lighter ; 

* Those who delight in searching for undiscoverable things, may institute an 
inquiry, whether the abrupt elements derived their existence in language, from 
the suddenness which anger and other violent passions assumed, in instinctive 
utterance, at that nonentity of date, the origin of languages. We here throw 
away the theme : let Messala, the Roman, who wrote a whole volume on one let- 
ter, come back to us and snatch at it. 



132 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

the third and fourth being respectively the reversed order of 
the other two. 

1 2 3 4 

A .. \ .,' A A 



@o %® @© I ©@© §99 | e|| o@ | @e® $cf| 

The second kind of proportions consist of perceptions of the 
different duration of two or more sounds. Of these too there 
are species, arising out of the relation of long and short, and 
the order of succession : as in the following illustration, where 
the first is meant to represent a sound of given duration fol- 
lowed by one of half or lesser fraction of its time ; the second 
shows a given time followed by two shorter ; the third and 
fourth being respectively the reverse in order of the times of 
the first and second. 



f.'-^t a Maaiai I na n aa na nn J ■ Baa es bsbm I m a nn m ca easa 

The reader can audibly illustrate these schemes by any 
means of making sounds of different force and duration. 

We can reach no further in the investigation of this subject, 
than to know that the measurement of these proportions is an 
agreeable exercise to the ear : and that we are more pleased 
with varied percussions and durations of any mechanical 
sounds, that have these or other symmetrical arrangements, than 
with one unvaried succession of similar percussions or times, 
except regular pauses be interposed between them ; as in the 
following notation, where the space of a pause is represented 
between a series of two and of three similar sounds. 



#@ Q® ©# I ©$© ®@© #©€> 

Now as the voice has the power of this momentary percus- 
sion, and as syllables have different degrees of duration, both 
of the above forms of sound may be applied to speech. The 
perception of the former is called Accent, and that of the lat- 
ter Quantity. To him who has equally exercised his ear in 
these two modes of measurement, that which consists in the 
alternations of quantity is by far the most agreeable. For, in 
the first place, no momentary sound or mere ictus, is musical ; 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 133 

whereas the prolonged sounds of quantity may be so. Second- 
ly, if the perception of equal momentary sounds with pauses 
between the given aggregates, — or of unequal momentary 
sounds, alternately continued, be agreeable, the alternate order 
of differing quantities will be more so. For, quantity may be 
made to include the accentual functions ; since the forcible 
ictus of accent may be applied to the beginning of a prolonged 
syllable : and pauses may be interposed between aggregates 
that make up the successions of quantity. 

I have in this view regarded brute sound only ; when quan- 
tity is considered as susceptible of expression, its claims over 
accent are incalculable. 

I have introduced these remarks on the quantity and accent 
of language, with reference to the use of the voice in reading 
verse : because a principal source of the difference between a 
good and a bad reader therein, lies in the varied degrees of 
ability to command the accent and quantity of syllables. 

It may be supposed that I allude to the Latin and Greek 
languages, when I speak of the quantity of verse. I mean the 
English language, and the partial, though unsought use of 
quantity, which at present prevails in its measure : and I wish 
further to intimate my anticipation of the future construction 
of its versification, on the sole basis of quantity ; if the scho- 
lastic formalists of literature can be made to believe that the 
subject of ancient prosody has, for ages past, been exhausted ; 
that the labours of wrangling compilation, are inferior to the 
works of inventive improvement, and that the investigation of 
their own respective languages may produce for them the first 
births of genius, and the consequent undivided heritage of 
fame. 

About the time we are taught to measure the syllables of 
Virgil, by the relations of long and short, we are told that the 
genius of our own tongue does not admit of the rythmus of 
quantity — that English prosody, together with that of other 
modern languages, is restricted to the use of the alternate 
strong and weak percussion of accent. For the sake of the 
general principle in some important matters, we do well per- 
haps to rely implicitly, for a time, on the instruction of our 
teachers ; but many may find reason to regret the necessity of 
this confidence in particular instances. From the finely go- 



134 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

verned and varied quantities of Mrs. Siddons, I first learned, 
by beautiful and impressive demonstration, that the English 
language possesses similar, if not equal resources, with the 
Greek and the Latin, in this department of the luxury of 
speech : and I thus found myself indebted to the Stage for the 
opening of that source of poetical and oratorical pleasure, 
which the more solemn pretences, and the hack instruction of 
a College, either knew not or disregarded. It was whilst 
listening to the recitation of this surpassing actress, that I first 
felt the want of that elementary instruction which would have 
enabled me to see through the whole of her excellence. I 
could not, however, avoid learning from her instinctive ex- 
ample, what the appointed elders of my education should have 
taught me, — that one of the most important means of ex- 
pressive intonation consists in the extended time of utterance. 

I must not be understood here, as asserting that the quanti- 
ty of English syllables has not been recognized by prosodians ; 
or that its beauty has not been felt by a good ear, wherever it 
has been well used accidentally, in English versification and 
in harmonious prose. I mean to convey a regret that its 
powers have been undervalued ; that it has been thereby ex- 
cluded from its place in elementary rhetorical instruction, and 
that the ear has thus been deprived of one of its highest prero- 
gatives of perception, in poetry and speech. 

I have sometimes been disposed to ask whether a classical 
scholar is gravely in earnest, or only vain of a college livery, 
in declaring his enjoyment of Greek and of Latin rythmus, 
whilst he is ignorant of similar resources of neglected quantity, 
in his own language. The Greeks and the Latins have left us 
their grammar, their written words, syllables, and elements ; 
but our uncertainty of the true voice of these elements in their 
several combinations, has given rise, among modern nations, 
to a difference in the pronunciation of them. Assuming the 
English mode, the subject of Greek and Latin quantity may 
be resolved into these simple principles. — Long syllables, or 
the temporal effects of long syllables, are made in two ways : 
First, by the absolute duration of syllables, constituted in the 
manner of those we called indefinite : Secondly, by such as 
were called immutable and mutable, followed by a'pause ; the 
time of pronunciation added to the time of the pause, being 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 135 

equal to a long syllable. Short syllables are made by the 
short-timed pronunciation of indefinite syllables, or by im- 
mutable ones. Now there is nothing in this account of ancient 
quantity, which is not true of the English language. 

But further, not only are these general principles of syllabic 
construction the same in Greek, Latin, and English, but the 
very syllables themselves are common to these three languages ; 
nay, 1 may say to all languages. If the reader will run over 
any or every line of Homer and of Horace, he will find very 
few syllables that do not form the whole, or part of some word 
belonging to his own tongue ; both as regards the elemental 
sounds, and the most exact coincidence of quantity. But it is 
on the nature of syllables alone, that the doctrine of quanti- 
ty is founded, in every language. When, therefore, we deny 
that the genius of the English tongue admits of the temporal 
measure, we must come to this absurd conclusion, that identi- 
cal sounds have, in Greek type, the most finished fitness for 
quantity, and in English have none at all.* 

The remarks here made refer principally to the sound of 
syllables separately considered. There may be some dif- 
ferences in the several words of these languages, that may 
render it easier to construct a rythmus of quantity in one than 
in another : but we speak now of the admission of the system 
of quantity into English, and not of the comparative ease of its 

* That it may not be thought I have exaggerated this conclusion, I give the fol- 
lowing substantial support to it. In the chapter on versification, in Baron Biel- 
feld's 'Elements of Universal Erudition,' after many remarks on the subject of 
ancient quantity and modern accent, which in nowise qualify the following extra- 
ordinary assertion, the author says—' Properly speaking, there are not, there- 
fore, in modern languages, any sensible distinctions of long and short syllables, 
but many that are to be lightly passed over, and others on which a strong accent, 
or inflection of the voice, is to be placed.' This was written towards the close of 
the last century, by the ' Preceptor to a European Prince, and the chancellor of 
all the universities in the Prussian dominions.' Even before his time, some proso- 
dians were not without the sense of hearing; and though, since the epoch of his 
deep deafness, the existence of long and short syllables in modern languages has 
been generally admitted, yet it is still held to be impossible to make agreeable 
measure out of their relations. 

In candour, it should be stated that the Baron was a mere compiler; but such 
writers generally represent current opinions, and they always know more of books 
and other men's notions, than is either known or coveted by original observers 
and autocrats in thought. 



136 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

execution when adopted. There may be some facilities in the 
Greek for certain kinds of measure, arising out of the greater 
length of the generality of words in this language. The Greek 
has certainly an advantage over the English in some of the 
purposes of vocal expression, and poetic quantity, by the ma- 
jority of its syllables being indefinite, and by its making less 
use of the abrupt elements in those positions which produce 
an immutable time. Greek syllables have, in general, fewer 
letters than English ; and they more frequently end with a 
tonic element. 

The employment of quantity, in the harmonious composi- 
tion of English prose writers, produces portions of the regular 
measure of Greek and Latin lines. If these occasional passages 
of temporal rythmus are well accommodated to the genius of 
the English language, I aver, 1 do not see why the studied 
contrivance of a poet might not use those existing quantities, 
in the continued course of verse. The following sentence has 
not the accentual form of any of our established metres, and is 
therefore, in its rythmus, purely English prose : — Rome, in 
her downfall, blazoned the fame of barbarian triumphs. This 
sentence derives its impressiveness, from the position of its long 
and short quantities. Now the position is exactly that of a Latin 
and of a Greek hexameter line, as may be seen by comparison. 

Dactyl Spondee Dactyl Dactyl Dactyl Spondee 



Ey cf era | crs £cmr | mgt a | gugori \ mug"! o \ uttos 

Si nihil | ex tant | a supe | rls placet | urbe re | Ilnqui 

Rome in her | downfall | blazon'd the | fame of bar | barian | triumphs. 

If this last sentence be read with its proper pauses, and with 
deliberate pronunciation, it will correspond in measure with 
the long and short times of the superscribed Latin and the 
Greek. I would not, however, think it strange, for anticipa- 
tion takes off the edge of surprise, if a classic scholar should 
deny the identity of its temporal impression, with that of the 
collated lines. We are so little accustomed to regard English 
syllables in reference to their quantity, that it is difficult, at 
first, to make it even a subject of auricular perception. For he 
who, according to vulgar persuasion, believes that there in an 
openness in the senses to receive all the objects which are 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 137 

brought near them, greater than that which exists in the mind 
for the reception of new subjects of reason or reflection, plainly 
indicates that he has no more than common-place knowledge of 
the wa) T s and powers of both the senses and the mind ; since 
the senses have equally their ignorance, obstinacy, and preju- 
dice ; they equally see plainly what has been seen, and for a 
long time can see no more. A well cultivated eye and ear are 
as rarely found as a well disciplined mind ; and a wise master 
in human policy and morals, would not find more difficulty, 
where interest is not inimical, in effecting his designs of meli- 
oration, than an original observer in physical science would 
experience, from the mass of the world, upon soliciting an im- 
mediate assent to the reality of the most manifest develop- 
ments of nature, or the most useful inventions of art. It is an 
easy and a passive thing to look and to listen; but, if I may 
make an antithesis of these words, it is another and a difficult 
exertion to see and to hear. 

In speaking of the indefinite syllables of the English lan- 
guage, it was said that their time might be varied without 
blemish of pronunciation ; and it was formerly shown, that the 
abrupt elements, which generally terminate immutable sylla- 
bles, have necessarily, after the occlusion of their sound, a pause 
that allows an immutable syllable to hold the place, and fulfil 
the function of a long one. With these legitimate materials 
for the construction of a temporal rythmus in English versifi- 
cation, nothing but deafness or prejudice, prevents our per- 
ceiving that its institution has been strongly prompted by na- 
ture, and is already half established in our poetry. We allow 
a reader full liberty over the quantity of syllables, for the sake 
of expression in speech ; and song employs the widest ranges 
of time on tonic sounds ; why should we refuse to the measure 
of poetry a less striking departure from the plain pronuncia- 
tion of the language. 

Mr. Sheridan, who does not overlook the existence of quan- 
tity in the English language, and its use in the expression of 
speech, but who, nevertheless, maintains that the genius of our 
tongue is exclusively disposed to the accentual measure, seems 
to ground his opinion, on the special rules of Greek and Latin 
prosody not being applicable to the phenomena of varying 
time in English pronunciation. He might as fairly have con- 
S 



138 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

eluded that the good English style of his own lectures could 
not be as perspicuous as the Latin, because his natural mode of 
construction is different from the appropriate inversions of the 
latter tongue. 

The broad inquiry on this subject is, — Are there both long 
and short syllables in the English language ; and can these 
varying quantities be so arranged as to produce an agreeable 
rythmus? The brief answer to this question is, — That we have, 
equally with the Greeks and Romans, the variation of long and 
short, in syllables; and it requires other arguments against the 
practicability of employing it in metre, than that derived from 
its having never yet been done. I would not choose to con- 
tend with him who doubts that quantity necessarily belongs to 
every spoken language. The ancients not only recognized it 
in theirs, but by a deep attention to its nature, availed themselves 
of its uses in the creations of literary taste. If Greek and Ro- 
man prosodists, in recording their special rules for the quantity 
of particular words, had furnished us with a little of that philo- 
sophy of elemental and syllabic sounds, which authorized or 
instinctively produced the rules of their scansion, the moderns 
would, in all probability, have seen its application to their own 
languages. 

There is some ground for the opinion, though this part of 
history is not altogether clear, that the restricted melodial na- 
ture of Greek music, its relation to song, together with the care 
therein taken to adjust the temporal correspondence of sylla- 
bles with notes, and its forming part of the liberal education of 
Grecian orators, poets, and philosophers, led to the close inves- 
tigation of quantity, and finally effected its adoption as the basis 
of the poetical composition of the Greeks. The modern ex- 
tension of the science of music to the principles and resources 
of the ingenious system of harmony, has rendered it indepen- 
dent of the support of words ; and the nice measurement of 
their time has been neglected, since the separation of the for- 
merly united duties of the composer and the poet. 

I can not pass by the conjecture, but 1 leave others to deter- 
mine its truth, — that the establishment of Greek rythmus on 
the function of quantity, did contribute, with other causes, to 
the improvement of the euphony of that language. We know 
what alteration rhyme, and the accentual measure have made 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 139 

in the pronunciation of English ; and there is fair reason to be- 
lieve, that one means of working a change to greater harmony, 
would be, to found its versification on quantity. The occasion- 
al wants of poets would prompt them to change many of our 
immutable syllables to indefinites ; would suggest the elision 
of atonic or abrupt elements from the ends of syllables ; and 
thus, by those large labours which the mere critic seems not to 
contemplate, and certainly never has accomplished, our lan- 
guage might be invited towards that condition of syllabication 
which constitutes, in part, the harmony of the Greek. We 
know that the diaeresis and other licenses of Greek versifica- 
tion, to say nothing of the dialects, were constantly used for 
facilities of poetic quantity, in that language ; and we might 
inquire, whether the addition to its alphabet of the Heta and 
Omega, was not part of the contribution, suggested and afford- 
ed by the circumstances of the temporal measure. 

Those who are in the habit of poetical composition, in the 
common accentual method, know how readily words of suitable 
accents are associated with the demands of versification. Nay, 
the fluency of the ear, if I may so call it, is in this matter so 
unfailing, that if the sense of words be disregarded, there will 
be no hesitation in sorting such unmeaning discourse into any 
assumed accentual measure. I mean, that a person with a 
quick poetical ear, and a free command of language, will find 
no difficulty in carrying on, for any duration, an extempore 
rythmus of mere unrelated words or phrases. But a person who 
is not in the practice of metrical composition, even if he be 
aware, from rule, of the requisite succession of accents, will 
show as much delay in gathering words to fulfil his accentual 
purposes, as the former would have, under the present state of 
the English ear, in aptly furnishing syllables for a temporal 
rythmus. Habit must have given to the extemporising poets 
of Greece, the same elective affinity of ear, if I may speak so, 
for the appropriate quantity of their verses, as the lmprovisatori 
of later Italy had for their required accents. At least two- 
thirds of the accented syllables of English words are indefinite 
in their time, and ma} r , at pleasure, be made either long or 
short. This resource for measure may be employed. Until, 
therefore, we have a larger experience upon the rythmus of 
quantity, in modern versification, and until the English ear 



140 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

knows more of the appreciable time of syllables than it can at 
present boast, we may be justified in considering the denial of 
the susceptibility of a temporal rythmus to modern languages, 
as a mere assumption. 

I am aware that the number of monosyllables and dissylla- 
bles in our language, exceeds that of the Greek ; and this may 
possibly render the former less fit than the latter, for the con- 
struction of certain systems of measure. On this ground it has 
been asserted that English words could not be arranged in an 
agreeable dactylic succession. This may be the case, but we 
have too little slight in the management of quantity, to justify 
a positive opinion on this point; and the trials which have 
been made, are not quite decisive. Habit is a forestalled and 
obstinate judge over existing institutions, and often pronounces 
unwisely upon their better substitutes. It is very certain that 
an anapaestic measure, founded on a mixture of accent and 
quantity, and nearly identical in effect with the ancient full 
dactylic line, is well suited to the syllabic and verbal condition 
of our language ; and that a very agreeable rythmus is produced 
by it* Admitting the above objection, it will not overrule 
the design to establish the forms of Iambic and Trochaic mea- 
sure, now in use, -on the basis of quantity alone. 

Although English versification is avowedly founded on the 
accentual rythmus, entire lines are occasionally found, so satis- 
factorily fulfilling all the conditions of the temporal measure, 
that they might be judged by the revived poetical ear of a 
Greek. But such lines are always preceded and followed by 
others, founded on the mingled functions of both quantity and 
accent. A rythmus composed altogether of accent, if such a 

* Let us subjoin a word here, fur our delusions and prejudices. The dactylic 
foot, and the anapaestic, fall with a similar impression x>n the ear. The ancients 
used the former for themes of the highest dignity ; and school boys are taught 
that it richly and gravely fulfils its purpose. We use the anapsestic foot for dog- 
grel and burlesque, and believe too, that there is something in its light skip pecu- 
liarly adapted to the familiar gayety of its modern poetic use. Let a deaf wor- 
shipper of antiquity and an English prosodist, settle this matter between them : 
for, to serve a purpose, even the opposite ends of contradiction can be made to 
meet. I will only say, in the words by which the Yezedi of Persia, who worship 
the devil, briefly explained their faith, and pertinaciously defended it against a 
Christian missionary — " Thus it is." 



THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 141 

thing could exist in speech, would be agreeable, though less so 
than one composed entirely of quantity. A versification made 
up of both these functions, might give no offence to a person 
uninformed of the nature of quantity ; for, since syllables which 
are constructed on the basis of quantity, may exhibit likewise 
the effect of accentual stress, the system might pass for one of 
entire accent. He who is skilled in the art of measuring the 
time of syllables, will, over this compounded rythmus, be 
shocked by the irregular and unexpected variation of its dis- 
similar impressions. An ear of delicate prosodial organization, 
which yet makes no analysis of its perceptions, often experi- 
ences this rythmic violence from English verse, but is ignorant 
of its cause. He whom nature has made a poet, by refinement 
of ear and by copiousness of words, instinctively avoids, in 
composition, much of the evil of these conflicting systems. 
But writers who have only a poor unfurnished ambition, who 
know nothing of sound, and who promiscuously mingle in their 
lines, the weight and the measure of syllables, commit distress- 
ing offence against those who, from some necessity, may have 
patience to go through their works. One of the charms of a 
good reader of verse, consists in his changing our metrical ac- 
cents into conspicuous quantities, by protracting the voice on 
all those syllables which have a stress in the measure, and will 
bear prolongation. 

From all that has been said on the comparative natures of 
quantity and accent, and from the slow progress of modern 
nations in distinguishing the relations of the former, it would 
seem, that, of these two metrical impressions, accent is more 
easily recognised. Nor is it unwarrantable to infer, from the 
greater facility in arranging the accentual measure, that the 
first rythmic essays of all nations were made in this mode of 
versification ; and that the Greeks themselves passed through 
this rattling amusement of poetical childhood. We owe no 
obligation to authority or fact, in opposition to this assump- 
tion ; and I could as soon be persuaded that the first instru- 
mental music of Otaheite was not the clattering of shells, as 
that the earliest songs of Greece were measured by the nice 
relationships of time. Our language is not indeed young in 
duration, but it is still in its infancy on this point : and many 
of those who have worked with good wishes, but ineffectual 



142 THE TIME OF THE VOICE. 

means, towards its improvement ; and who, by taste and au- 
thority, have been qualified to listen to living voices, with 
progressively meliorating influence upon them, have only 
wandered off with an unavailing ear, among the silent graves 
of language in the remote realms of antiquity. We all feel an 
august delight over the works of the distant dead : There is 
scarcely a page of the poetic rythmus of the Greeks and the 
Romans, or a remaining trace of their plummet and chisel, 
that might not make me forget, through intense contempla- 
tion, the mere seclusion of a prison. But 1 could as soon ad- 
mit, that the modern zeal in freighting our homeward ships 
with the fragments of their temples ; and the covetousness of 
nations for the very purloined possession of their statuary, 
ought to preclude the future use of the marble of our moun- 
tains, for the accomplishment of equal or transcending works 
of art, as that a just admiration of classic measure should pre- 
vent the endeavour to transfer to our own language, the admis- 
sible principles of Greek and Roman poetry. 

1 have offered the last few pages of this section, as no more 
than digressive and desultory remarks on a subject intimately 
connected with the time of the voice, and with the cultivation 
of an important but neglected accident of speech. 

The English language has an unbounded prospect before it. 
The unequalled millions of a great continent must hold a wide 
community, in the pleasures and interests of its advancement. 
1 can not so far undervalue the emulative efforts of that great 
population which must hereafter form its literary class, as to 
suppose they will all merely vaunt in retrospective vanity, 
over what has been done, and not extend their views to other 
and deeper resources of their art. But, in thus looking for- 
ward to the establishment of English versification, on the basis 
of quantity, I see the limitation of the poet's abundance, by 
the substituted excellence of his few but finished lines. Our 
measure is now drawn from the two different sources of accent 
and quantity. To construct a rythmus by quantity alone, will 
require more rejections, and a wider search in composition ; 
more copiousness in the command of words ; more accuracy of 
ear, and longer labour for a shorter work. I am here speak- 
ing of the great products of the pen. Of these, as of all per- 
durable human excellence, labour must be the means ; and the 



THE EXPRESSION OF MELODY. 143 

calculation of its extent will therefore always form one of the 
duties of judgment, in decreeing reward. Let him who could 
patiently devote a life to laying up store of ' goodly thoughts' 
for Paradise Lost, unravel the idler's fable about the inspira- 
tion of the immortal works of man. Let them, who to the 
soul of genius have joined the strong body of laborious care, 
say, in what consists the true life and the embalming of fame : 
let them touch the sleeve of early and voluminous authorship, 
and whisper one of the useful secrets for accomplishing more 
to instruct and please, and less to perish. 






SECTION X, 
Of the Expression of Melody . 

A comprehensive account of melody, would properly repre- 
sent it as produced by a variation in the time, pauses, and 
pitch of the voice ; since the well appointed uses and disposi- 
tion of these accidents, make up the agreeable impression of 
speech. In two previous sections I have discussed separately 
the subjects of time and pitch. I propose to consider here, 
how far merely the progressive steps of melody are instru- 
mental in the work of expression. 

The various successions of radical pitch were, on a former 
occasion, traced to their ultimate forms, and designated by the 
definite terms of their phrases. I have now to show that some 
of these phrases may be employed as the appropriate signs of 
certain sentiments. The design of this section does not em- 
brace the consideration of the triad of the cadence which pro- 
perly expresses no more than a feeling of repose : and it has 
been already shown in its proper place, that a varied succes- 
sion of all the phrases, produces the plain and unobtrusive ef- 
fect of the Diatonic melody. 



144 THE EXPRESSION OF MELODY. 

The Monotone and the Alternate phrase, are the only modes 
of melodial progression which attract the ear by a peculiarity 
of character, and thereby fulfil any remarkable purpose of ex- 
pression. 

A predominance of the monotone in melody, is suited to 
feelings of dignity, grief, tenderness, solemnity, and serious 
admonition. 

The phrase of alternation is expressive of the more active 
sentiments of anger, joy and facetiousness, and to the earnest 
strife of argument. It is, however, to be taken into view, that 
the current melody must not consist altogether of either of 
these phrases. This would produce a disagreeable uniformity. 
The monotone should be occasionally broken by the rising or 
falling ditone ; and the alternation as frequently varied by a 
limited monotone. 

An illustration of the dignified expression of the monotone 
may be given, on that magnificent picture of Satan's imperial 
presence in Pandemonium, at the opening of the Second Book 
of Paradise Lost. 



High 


on a throne of roy — al state, 


which 


far 


<$S 


^ wT ti€ a&L—ef. ... idT... 


4 


4~ 


<& <jy w W US' v jjr tst 



Out — 


—shone 
ft 


the wealth of Or — mus and of Ind, 


\4 


*T jf *fd d d d JT 


1 w w w 



Or where 


the gor-geous 


East 


with rich — est hand 


4 4 


4 4 4 


4- 


4 4 4 4 






W 



Show — ers 


on her kings 


bar ba — ric pearl and gold, 


\4 4 44 4 4 44444 



Sa tan ex alt ed 


sat. 


4 4 44 4 


sgr <gy igp Sjjp 


^ 



THE EXPRESSION OF MELODY. 145 

The greater part of this melody is in monotone. I do not 
say the passage requires, exclusively, the order here given to 
the variations from the predominant phrase, since an accom- 
plished reader might alter the arrangement with equal or supe- 
rior effect. But 1 venture to claim that reader's accordance 
with the confident assertion, that if an equal amount of mono- 
tone, however disposed, be not allotted to these lines, the ut- 
terance will be, according to the degree of deviation, more or 
less at variance with the sentiment of the poet, and the rapt 
dignity of the reader's contemplation.* 

* With due apology for the digression, I beg leave to return for a moment to 
the subject of the last section, by remarking, that the poet, with a rich instinct of 
versification, has thickly set the lines above quoted, with long quantities, in happy 
adaptation to the stately sentiment of the description. 

I use here, rather remarkably, the term instinct of versification, not in over- 
sight of the bright intelligence with which this extraordinary man executed every 
high design and every tittle of his work ; but because it is clearly seen, he did not 
intend to construct the measure of his poem by the rules of quantity alone. The 
development of the resources of the accentual measure by Milton, was a new and 
absorbing labour. Had this advance-step preceded him, the originality and rest- 
less enterprise of his genius would most probably have joined with the many prin- 
ciples of Greek and Roman composition, so happily transferred to his own lan- 
guage, the accomplishment of the supposed impossibility of adopting the mode of 
their rythmus. In the above example, where the majesty of his thought secured 
so much homage from his ear, some of the quantities suddenly arrest that percep- 
tion of continued movement and deliberate dignity, which the protracted time of 
the generality of the measure produces. The syllables ' state,' 'rich,' and 'sat,' 
are too short, for the otherwise good iambic temporal rythmus of these lines : and 
the word barbaric occasions some irregular contrariety in the impressions of 
quantity and accent. In the abstract pronunciation of this word, the first sylla- 
ble, ' 6ar,' is somewhat longer than the second, which, by its nature will not, in 
this case, bear unusual extension. But the longer syllable is here in the place of 
the weak syllable of iambic accent ; and the impressiveness of exceeding length 
thus reverses the succession of the prevailing rythmus. Nor does the simple meaning 
of the epithet ' barbaric,' allow a sufficient degree of accentual stress on the second 
syllable, to over-rule the impressiveness of the greater length of the first. If the 
reader will substitute the adjective ' orient' for ' barbaric,' and overlook the dete- 
rioration of style produced by the change, he will perceive, by comparison, the 
difference between the accentual and the temporal rythmus, which I have just en- 
deavoured to explain. 

Showers on | her kings | her or | ient pearl | and gold. 

Now, whether the first and the fourth foot be considered respectively in their 
order, a trochee and an iambus, as I have marked them, or as a dactyl and an 

T 



146 



THE EXPRESSION OF MELODY. 



The following notation of the description of Abdiel's en- 
counter with Satan, from Milton's sixth book, exemplifies the 
use of the alternate phrase, in the expression of the earnest ex- 
citement necessarily produced by the eventful scene : 



So say — ing, a no ble 


stroke 


be lift — 


-ed high, 


44* 4 4 4 


-4- 


4 4- 





Which 


hung 


not, but so swift with tem- 


-pest 


fell 


4 


*f_ 


4 j£ d 4 4 4 


4 


4 





On the proud 


crest of Sa — tan, that no sight 


*-4* 


4 4** 4*4 



Nor mo — tion of quick thought, 


less 


could 


his shield 


<f <d A 4 d tf #T / rf 





Such ru — —in in ter cept. 




anapaest, as they may be read, consistently with the genius of our iambic mea- 
sure, I do assert that the admissible prolongation of the idefinite syllable ' or,' pro- 
duces a dignity of utterance, not equally efFectible on the short time of the accent- 
ed syllable of barbaric. And I add further, that this line does fulfil the conditions 
of poetic quantity, as completely as any line that ever was constructed with Greek 
or with Roman words. 

If the reader would know how certain words may be pronounced as a foot or 
prosodial phrase, either of two or of three syllables, let him recur to our principles 
of syllabication, formerly laid down. The word showers is one syllable, when the 
' e' is omitted ; the diphthongal tonic ' ou,' vanishing directly into the subtonic 
' r.' If the sound of ' e' is retained, that element requires a radical, and the word 
becomes, thereby, of two syllables. The trissyllable ' orient,' is reduced to a dis- 
syllable, by withholding a radical from the sound represented by 'i;' and thereby 



THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 147 

In this scheme, 1 have used a limited variation of radical 
pitch, with the design to show plainly the alternation. Good 
recitation would require a wider range : still the alternate 
phrase should predominate. A prevalence of the monotone 
throughout this passage, might represent the dignified courage 
and calm security of an aggressor, confident of success : but it 
would be misapplied and faded coloring for the hurried min- 
gling of watchfulness and dreadful expectation, which the de- 
scription of the huge impetus is calculated to excite. 

Besides these two modes of expression by particular phrases, 
there is a certain effect produced by an ascent and descent of 
the melody, through the whole extent of the voice. My de- 
sign leads me no further than to ascertain and illustrate the 
general principles of this subject. In the sixth section, 1 gave 
the notation of a passage from Othello, in which the progres- 
sion is represented gradually rising and falling, through the 
whole compass, corresponding with the variation of force in 
the sentiment : it is therefore unnecessary to trouble the reader 
with a similar delineation. 



SECTION XI. 

Of the Intonation at Pauses. 

The term Pause, in elocution, is applied to that occasional 
silence in discourse, which is greater than the momentary rest 
between syllables. 

dropping that sound as a distinct syllable. Now ' i,' in the trissy liable, is express- 
ed by the proper sound of ee-l, and this element passing readily into the subtonic 
' y-e,' coalesces with the succeeding tonic to form one syllabic impulse. The word 
' orient,' in correct pronunciation, is a true dactyl in quantity; I have set it as an 
iambus, not intending to defend the propriety of the contraction, but for the pur. 
pose of constructing thereby a regular iambic line, and to illustrate one of the prin- 
ciples of English pronunciation. 



148 THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 

Pauses are used for the more conspicuous display of sense 
and sentiment, by separating certain words or aggregates of 
words from each other. 

Without entering here, into a circumstantial exposition of 
the philosophy of grammar, every sentence may, in the most 
general view, be regarded as resolvable into two constituent 
generic parts of speech ; the substantive, with its accidents of 
being, and the verb, with its various modes of action : all other 
symbols of thought being only specifications of the attributes 
of that being and that action, throughout the modes of time, 
place, degree, manner, and all other possible relationships of 
things. Now the pause separates the aggregates of words 
which describe those existences and agencies with their quali- 
fications : and whilst the continuity of utterance within these 
sections, gives unity to the impression on the ear, the under- 
standing remains undistracted through the temporary restric- 
tion of the scope of attention. The division of discourse, by 
means of motion and rest, prevents the feebleness or confusion 
of impression which would result from an unbroken procession 
of speech, no less remarkably than the skilful disposition of 
color, and light and space, disentangle the objects and figures 
of the canvass from the unmeaning positions and actions of a 
chaos and a crowd. 

The extent of the sections of discourse, thus separated by 
pauses, varies through all increasing degrees, from the limits 
of a single word to the inclusion of a full member of a sentence. 
There are, indeed some purposes of expression which require 
a pause even between syllables. It was shown, in treating of 
syllabication, that the full opening of the radical can not be com- 
pletely made, except it is preceded by an occlusion of the 
voice. Now the accented syllable of the word ' vX-taclt? being 
an immutable quantity, can receive a marked emphatic dis- 
tinction, only by means of an abrupt explosion of the radical, 
after a momentary pause. 

The times of the several pauses of discourse vary in duration, 
from the slight inter-syllabic rest, to the full separation of suc- 
cessive paragraphs : the degrees being accommodated to the re- 
quisitions of the greater or less connexion of the sense, and to 
the peculiar demands of sentiment. 

All the parts of a continued discourse, which has the least 



THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 149 

unity of purport, should bear some relation to each other. But 
these relations being severally more or less close, grammatical 
points were invented to mark their varying degrees. The 
common points are, however, very indefinitely effective of 
their purposes, in the art of reading. They are described in 
books of elementary instruction, principally with reference to 
the time of pausing ; and are addressed to the eye, as indexes 
of grammatical structure. The symbols of interrogation and 
of exclamation are said to denote peculiarity of tone; yet even 
with this vague reference to a rule, the ear is still without a 
guide in this important branch of elocution. The efficacy of 
punctuation should consist not more in ordering the measure 
of time, than in directing an appropriate intonation; and a just 
definition of Pause would, perhaps, be as properly founded on 
variations and distinctions, produced by the phrases of melody, 
as on the different duration of the time of rest. I am not in- 
formed that any other writer, besides Mr. Walker, has taught 
the necessity of regarding the inflections of the voice, in the 
history of pauses. 

It is of much importance in speech, with regard to mere va- 
riety of sound as well as to sense and expression, to apply the 
proper intonation at pauses. The phrases of melody have 
here a positive meaning, and often mark a continuation or a 
completion of the sense, when the style and the temporal rest 
alone would not to an auditor be decisive of its nature. But 
the purposes of pausing being varied, an appropriate intonation 
must by its changes prevent that monotony, wnich is so com- 
mon with most readers at the grammatical divisions of dis- 
course. 

The effect of pause, in relation to the separation by time, will 
be illustrated in the next section on the Grouping of the voice ; 
and 1 now proceed to describe the successions of pitch, to be 
used at the different places of rest. 

The triad of the cadence denotes a completion of the prece- 
ding sense, and is therefore inadmissible, except at a proper 
grammatical period. But it does not follow that reciprocally 
it must be always applied at the close of a preceding sense ; for 
in those forms of composition called loose sentences, and in- 
verted periods, there are members with this complete and in- 



150 THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 

sulated meaning, which nevertheless do not admit of the 
downward closing phrase. 

The rising tritone indicates the most immediate connexion 
of parts separated by the time of the pause. The ditone car- 
ries on the sense in the next degree. The phrase of the mono- 
tone denotes a diminished relationship between divided mem- 
bers : the falling ditone still less : and the downward tritone 
produces the fullest suspension of sense, without obstructing 
its further continuation. The triad of the cadence being the 
maximum of distinction among the parts of discourse, the com- 
parison of its downward intonation with the courses of the 
other phrases, may serve to explain the causes of the varying 
indication of each, by showing the gradations of departure from 
the form and direction of the disuniting cadence. The degrees of 
connexion between the members of sentences are so various, 
and the acceptation of them by readers may be so different, 
that it would not be safe to propose a scheme for appropriating 
definitely the kind of phrase to every instance of pause. From 
present knowledge on this subject, I would say generally that 
the intonation of some pauses may be varied without excep- 
tionably affecting either sense or elocution : but I am confident 
in asserting that there are cases in which the species of phrase 
is absolutely unalterable. 

The foregoing remarks on the use of the phrases of melody, 
have not been made in allusion to common grammatical punc- 
tuation. Writers on elocution have long since ascribed the 
faults of readers, in part, to the vague nature of these points, 
and to the distractingeffect of the caprice of editors in using them. 

In the notation of the following passage I shall apply the 
phrases of melody, with reference both to my own acceptation 
of the sense of the author, and to the distinct and vivid picture, 
producible by utterance, without regard to the directions of its 
punctuation. It is thus pointed by the editor : 

So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found 

Among the faithless, faithful only he ; 

Among innumerable false, unmoved, 

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, 

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal ; 

Nor number, nor example, with him wrought 

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind, 

Though single. 



THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 



151 



When the reader looks upon the changes 1 have made in the 
punctuation of these lines, I must beg him to bear in mind, that 
whether his decision is favorable to it or otherwise, it may 
still illustrate my idea of the power and place of the phrases. 
If this be accomplished, I shall not dispute about the free will 
of taste, in the particular use of these phrases. My object in 
this essay, is to explain the functions of the voice : not to con- 
tend with expositors and critics. , 

When I speak of the employment of a phrase of melody, at 
a pause of discourse, it must be understood that the phrase is 
to be applied to the last syllables preceding the pause. Ne- 
vertheless, for particular purposes of expression, the monotone 
may be continued on the succeeding syllable. 



So spake 


the 


se — 


-raph 


Ab- 


— diel, 


faith— ful 


found 


4-4- 


4 


& 


¥ 




&& 


flf ^8 


im ' 


Iff- 






fjgP 




• i 



A — mong the faith-less. Faith — ful on ly 


he. 




- ^ - - 


* 



A — mong 


in nu me ra — 


ble 


false, 


un- 


— moved, 




* € * * 















Un sha — ken, un se — duced, 


un — 


— ter— 


— ri 


— tied, 


4 4^44 4 


<S9 


4 


w 


JT } 


• , 


His loy— al ty he kept, 1 


lis 


love, 


his 


zeal. 


\4 4 4 44 4 






4 


- 1 


|« w ......... .... 


Nor num — ber, nor ex am — 


-pie, 


with 


him 


wrought 


€ 4 * 4 4 4 


4 


*r ^ 


tf 


W W w 








I 



152 THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 

To swerve from truth, or change his con — stant mind, 



4 w ^ & & 



Though sin gle. 



The first pause at ( Abdiel' is marked with a falling ditone, 
because the included member does not necessarily produce 
the expectation of additional meaning or qualification : and 
because this phrase does not absolutely dissolve the gramma- 
tical concord between the members which it separates. I have 
set the triad of the cadence at 'faithless,' not exclusively upon 
the right to assume the sense as here completed ; but with a 
view to prepare for the eminent display of the sentiment con- 
tained in the remainder of the line. The editor has marked 
the pause with a comma, and thus made the three succeeding 
words a dependent clause. I have regarded this clause as an 
elliptical sentence ; not only because I might be justified in so 
doing by a grammatical resolution of it, but more especially in 
order to promote the expressive effect of utterance. These 
words reiterate the previous attribution of faithfulness to 
Abdiel, with the further affirmation of his singleness in virtue. 
This definite and emphatic restriction of the individuality of 
the subject, is made with mingled sentiments of regret over 
the rebellious rejection of truth, and of exultation that Abdiel 
alone has the undivided merit of defending it. There is a 
touch of feeling in these sentiments, which even with all other 
due means for an appropriate utterance, can not be answerably 
displayed, except the phraseology of those sentiments is sepa- 
rated from that of preceding and succeeding thoughts, by the 
marked distinctions of the cadence. If the word faithless be 
read with what is called, in the schools, a suspension of the 
voice, which in their indefinite language means avoiding a fall — 
the spirit of the clause which follows will be perverted or lost. 
Milton's fine ear and his high passions qualified him to be a 
good reader ; and though he may not have been one by prac- 
tice, I would with difficulty believe that he thought the pas- 



THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 153 

sage we have been here considering, with the close sequence 
which is implied by the editor's comma and semicolon. 

The next pause at 'false,' is preceded by the rising ditone. 
The structure of this member evidently creates expectancy, 
and the species of intonation indicates the continuation of the 
sense. 

Of the four succeeding pauses, each rests on a single word. 
The three first are noted with the monotone, toforetel the con- 
tinued progression of the sense : the fourth, at ' terrified,' has 
the falling ditone, to denote a change, but not a close of thought. 
In ordering these four pauses, variety might be shown, with- 
out affecting the sense, by giving to the two last syllables of 
'unshaken,' a rising phrase. The phrase at ' kept' is the rising 
ditone; for since 'love' and 'zeal' are equally, with 'loyalty,' 
the objectives of 'kept,' and these objects being disjoined by 
construction, no other phrase at ' kept,' would so closely co- 
operate with the full pause which I have set at 'zeal,' and 
thereby tend to impress on an auditor the true syntax of the 
sentence. 

At * zeal,' which is marked by the editor with a semicolon, 
1 have applied a period, and a form of the cadence ; for this 
close, by throwing back ' love' and ' zeal,' as objectives, pre- 
vents their bearing forward as nominatives to some expected 
verb ; which might not be obviated by employing, at this 
place, one of the continuative phrases of melody with a semi- 
colon. The use of a cadence in this place puts the true gram- 
matical construction of the sentence altogether out of doubt 
with the auditor. One can account for the employment of a 
semicolon at 'zeal,' by presuming that the editor considered 
the following word ' nor' as a connective. It certainly begins 
a new sense ; and in regard both to its place and its immediate 
repetition, may be looked upon as a poetical inversion and a re- 
dundancy of negative. The remaining part of the notation 
contains examples of the principles just elucidated, and there- 
fore needs no explanation. 

I have thus endeavoured to begin an effort towards supply- 
ing a blank in elocution, by giving a definite description of the 
modes of intonation, to be joined with the rests of the voice ; 
and by illustrating the manner in which we may frame princi- 
ples, to direct the use of the several phrases. Those who desire 
U 



154 THE INTONATION AT PAUSES. 

knowledge of the structure of sentences, for the purpose of ap- 
plying these principles, may consult books of rhetoric. Mr. 
Sheridan writes, with his usual ability, on the nature of pause, 
and gives numerous exemplifications of its proper use. But 
he makes no analysis of that intonation which he must have 
judiciously joined with it, in the accomplished practice of his 
voice. Mr. Walker has also given a masterly treatise on this 
subject, in his Rhetorical Grammar. He wisely saw the prac- 
tical utility of uniting with the doctrine of the temporal pur- 
pose of pause, an enquiry into the applicable modes of intona- 
tion. In a philosophical view of the subject, his treatise 
contains no description of the functions of pitch, beyond the 
general distinctions into rise and fall, and turn, which had been 
made long before his time. Mr. Walker undertook the inves- 
tigation of the nature of speech, without possessing a discri- 
minating ear ; without sufficient familiarity with the known 
distinctions of sound, and without seeming to keep in mind 
the means of philosophical inquiry. The example of the high- 
est masters of science, had taught that all he could aim to ac- 
complish by his research, would be, to observe the phenomena 
of the voice, and to class them with known facts in the history 
of sound. But the most precise nomenclature of the proper- 
ties of sound, if not the most comprehensive history of them, 
is contained in the science of music : and Mr. Walker appears 
to have had too feeble or too limited a perception of its clear 
and abundant discriminations, to produce a recognition of iden- 
tity or analogy between the modes of the speaking voice and 
the familiar phenomena of musical sounds. 

Even though we might despair that future inquiry will teach 
us the structural cause of the vanishing movement, and of the 
orotund and falsette voices : still it is certainly now within the 
ability of a disciplined and attentive ear, to discover whether 
sounds, supposed to be peculiar to the human voice, are similar 
to others that have been accurately measured and definitely 
named, in the classifications of music ; and consequently whe- 
ther they might be designated by the same nomenclature, as far 
as the terms of music are applicable to the phenomena of speech. 
Such a mode of investigation, with its satisfactory results, be- 
ing the whole means and gains of a true and useful philosophy, 
we might as well believe that the Newtonian discoveries in 



THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 155 

optics, could have been effected without a previous acquaint- 
ance with the laws of motion, the variety of colors, and the 
relations of magnitude and number, — as look for a develop- 
ment of the modes of the human voice, by him who is ignorant 
of the known distinctions of sound. 



SECTION XII. 
Of the Grouping of Speech. 

1 have adopted a term from the art of painting, to designate 
the instrumentality of pauses, and of certain affections of the 
voice, in uniting the related ideas of discourse, and separating 
those which are unrelated to each other. 

The inversions of style, the intersections of expletives and 
the wide separation of antecedents and relatives, which are al- 
lowed in poetry, may be made sufficiently perspicuous, through 
the circumspection of the mind, and the advancing span of the 
eye, in the deliberate perusal of a sentence. But in listening 
to the speech or reading of others, we can employ no scruti- 
nizing hesitation : and though the memory may retrace, to a 
certain limit, the intricacies of construction, the best discern- 
ment can not always anticipate the sense of a succeeding mem- 
ber, nor the nature and position of its pause. The higher 
poetry, in the contriving spirit of its eloquence, gives many 
instances of extreme involution of style. A reader therefore, 
is frequently obliged to employ other means, for exhibiting 
the true relationship of words, besides that simple current of 
utterance, which may be sufficient for the clear syntax of a 
more natural idiom. 

The means by which deviations from the simple construc- 
tion of sentences may be rendered perspicuous in delivery, 
are, — 



155 THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 

Pauses, which are here to be regarded merely as divisional 

agents : 

The Phrases of melody, that have been already in part ex- 
plained : 

The reduction of the pitch and force of the voice, for which I 

use the term Abatement : 

A quickness of utterance, that I here call the Flight of the 

voice : and 

A mode of indicating grammatical connexion, which may be 
named the Emphatic Tie. 
1 have summed up the several means here enumerated, under 
the generic term Grouping, in order to explain their purposes by 
metaphorical illustration ; and have distinguished each by a 
specific name, thereby to invite attention to the subject, by the 
institution of a definite nomenclature. 

The most common method of grouping the related parts of a 
sentence, under the bond of a given condition of the voice, is 
that which is effected by its continuity within the limits of 
Pauses. This subject is so extensively treated in the art of 
elocution, that I give here but a single instance of the power 
of the pause, in separating the confluent ideas of a sentence, 
and in giving the proper independency to each. Let us take, 
from the second book of Paradise Lost, the description of 
Death's advancing to meet Satan, on his arrival at the gates of 
hell. 

Satan was now at hand and from his seat 
The monster moving onward came as fast 
With horrid strides. 

I have omitted the punctuation of this passage : which if cor- 
respondingly read without a pause, would not be absolutely des- 
titute of meaning ; for the auditor would understand the general 
course of the action described. But the force of expression 
which makes a vivid picture of the whole, through the distinct 
individuality of its parts, will be entirely lost. There are in 
this sentence four separate groups of thought, which should be 
indicated by three pauses. 

Satan was now at hand — and from his seat 
The monster moving — onward came as fast — 
With horrid strides. 



THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 157 

The first division, ending with 'hand,' gives notice of the 
rapid approach of Satan. The second represents the monster 
Death rising from his seat, and is insulated by a pause at moving. 
This division is properly separated from the next, ' onward 
came as fast;' for though it describes the further movement of 
Death, and in this view might seem to forbid the separation, 
yet its principal aim is to show the speed of his progress by 
comparing it with that of Satan, and this justifies the distinc- 
tion which is here made. The last division, 'with horrid 
strides,' must be separated from the preceding : for if it were 
read — onward came as fast with horrid strides, the im- 
mediate connexion of the manner of movement with the decla- 
ration of the likeness between the time of it, in the two char- 
acters, might authorize the conclusion that Death was striding 
as fast as Satan was striding. Whereas the pause at 'fast' refers 
thatmode of progression to Death alone, agreeably to a previous 
part of the context, which describes Satan as moving on 'swift 
wings.' 

Some of the uses of the Phrases of melody were stated in the 
preceding section. I here offer one or two examples of the 
effect of an appropriate melody, in carrying on the connexion 
of thought, and in producing an immediate perception of gram- 
matical concord : 

On the other siJe, 
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood 
Unterrified, and like a comet burned, 
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge, 
In the arctic sky. 

If the phrase of the falling ditone be used at the pause which 
must be made at ' burned,' it will, to the ear, destroy the con- 
cord between the relative 'that' and the antecedent 'comet.' 
But by applying the monotone, the relationship between these 
two words will be vividly impressed, notwithstanding the in- 
tervening pause at 'burned :' the grouping power of the me- 
lody, in this case, counteracting the dividing agency of the 
pause. 

A similar instance of the influence of the monotone, in ef- 
fecting a close connexion of the antecedent with the relative, 
may be perceived at the pause after 'unheard,' in the follow- 
ing lines: 



158 THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 

First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood 
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears; 
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, 
Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire 
To his grim idol. 

Let us take one more example illustrative of the principle of 
intonation here laid down: 

Art thou that traitor-angel, art thou he 

Who first broke peace in heaven, and faith, till then 

Unbroken? 

In this passage the phrase 'in heaven' is interposed between 
peace and faith, the two objectives of broke. Now in order that 
the syntactic connexion between these words may be impres- 
sively shown, the slighest pause only is admissible after 'hea- 
ven;' and a more conspicuous one must be placed after 'faith.' 
But the further expletive ' till then unbroken' is immediately 
connected with ' faith ;' and the only means by which this 
close relationship can be represented in contravention to the 
delay of the pause after 'faith,' which was shown to be neces- 
sary for another point of perspicuity, is by using the phrase of 
the rising ditone or the monotone on ' faith.' Thus the pause 
at this word represents clearly the full government of the 
verb 'broke,' whilst the phrase of melody at that pause, pre- 
vents the intersection of rest, from dissolving the continuity of 
the previous sense with the succeeding expletive. The pages 
of poetry are full of instances of phraseology that require the 
management of the voice here described. Milton and Shak- 
speare can not be read well, without strict attention to the ap- 
parent collision between the purposes of the pause and of the 
sense, and to the reconciling power of the phrases of melody. 

The reduction of the Pitch and Force of the voice being 
generally combined in reading, 1 have, in this section, desig- 
nated them collectively, by a single term, — the Abatement of 
the voice. Common elementary books are sufficiently expla- 
natory of the nature and uses of this means for exhibiting the 
sense and sentiment of discourse. Its power of grouping to- 
gether the related parts of sentences, is shown by the well 
known mode of utterance in a parenthesis. 

I come now to speak of the perspicuity which may be given 



THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 159 

to a sentence, by what I have called the Flight of the voice. 
There is a familiar rule in elocution, which directs us to use a 
quickened utterance on the common parenthesis. This function 
may be extended to other grammatical constructions. I give 
it here the importance of a name, and of a detailed discussion, 
from the indispensable necessity of employing it, for the clear 
display of the sense of some of those instances of close trimmed 
phraseology and extreme inversion, which are occasionally 
found in the higher species of poetical composition. 

In the following example, I have marked, in italics, the part 
which requires the flight of the voice : 

You and I have heard our fathers say 
There was a Brutus once, that would have brook'd 
The eternal Devil to keep his state in Rome 
As easily, as a king. 

The word ' easily,' here qualifies the verb ' brook'd ;' and I 
know no mode of showing this to the auditor, but by the rapid 
flight here directed. A London edition of Shaskpeare, from 
which I quote this passage, has a pause after Rome. The ra- 
tionale of the flight, which lies in allowing the least possible 
lapse of time between the utterance of related words, suggests 
the obliteration of this pause, and the addition of a slight one 
after 'easily.' This tends to prevent the adverb from passing 
as a qualification of 'keeping his state,' which certainly can 
not be the sense of the author - f but which, at a glance of hear- 
ing, might be mistaken for it, without the aid of the altered 
pause and the flight. This is not the place to speak of the nice 
points of emphasis and of melody, to be connected with the 
flight of this passage, in order to give full lustre to its effect. 

Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from, thy view, 
Nor the deep track of hell. 

To make it appear at once, in speech, that the l deep track 
of hell' is, equally with 'heaven,' a nominative to 'hides,' the 
phrase of the monotone must be used at 'view,' in addition to 
the flight of the voice, on the portion marked in italics; — nor 
should there be a pause at ' view,' as given by the editor. 

Should the mere grammarian conceive objections to any of 
these proposed alterations of punctuation, 1 must beg him to 



160 THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 

recur to the design of this section. We speak now of the 
means of addressing the ear; and its jealous demands some- 
times justify a neglect of the usual temporal pauses, from the 
sense and expression in these cases being more obvious without 
them. The art of reading well admits of the resource of com- 
pensating for voluntary faults on some points, by the accom- 
plishment of eminent effects on the others. 

By the grouping of Emphasis., or what I here call the Em- 
phatic Tie, I mean the application of emphasis to words, which 
would not otherwise require distinction, merely for the pur- 
pose of associating those ideas which can not, by any other 
mode of vocal syntax, if I may so speak, be brought together, 
or exhibited in their natural grammatical dependence. The pro- 
cess of this function may be easily understood : for related 
words, however disjoined in composition, are at once brought 
within the field of hearing, in their real relationships, when- 
ever they are raised into attractive importance, by force or any 
other kind of emphasis. 

The following stanza, from Collins' <Ode on the Passions,' 
will illustrate the nature of this mode of grouping. 

When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue, 

Her bow across her shoulder flung, 

Her buskins gemm'd with morning dew, 

Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung, 

The hunter's call, to Faun and Dryad known. 

These two last lines have an embarrassing construction to a 
reader. The phrases < inspiring air,' and ' hunter's call' are in 
apposition ; but there intervenes a clause, which might make 
' rung' pass for an active, instead of a neuter verb, and thereby 
render * call' the objective to it. To show, therefore, that by 
' hunter's call' the author means the ' inspiring air,' previously 
mentioned, the words marked in italics should receive strong 
emphasis. This is the best mode for restoring to the ear that 
natural order which is inverted in the composition. 

This emphatic tie is often employed in combination with 
other of the means of grouping. Thus, in the several ex- 
amples, illustrating the use of the phrases of melody, their in- 
fluence will be assisted by applying the connecting emphasis 
to < comet' and ' fires' — < children's' and < passed' — ' peace' and 
' faith.' In the examples of the flight, the relationships between 



THE GROUPING OF SPEECH. 161 

the words ' brook'd' and < easily' — and between ' heaven' and 
' deep track of hell,' will be made more manifest by the addi- 
tional use of the emphatic tie. 

In short, it is sometimes necessary to employ all the means 
of grouping upon a single sentence, in order to make the syn- 
tax and the sentiment obvious to the ear. The extreme dis- 
tortion of English idiom in the following lines, must be ex- 
ceedingly perplexing to a reader ; and, so far as I know, can 
be rendered somewhat less embarrassing, only by the use of all 
these means. The passage is taken from the fourth book of 
Paradise Lost, at the end of Satan's address to the sun. 

Thus while he spake, each passion dimm'd his face 
Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair; 
Which marr'd his borrow'd visage, and betray'd 
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld. 

Milton uses the word 'pale,' here, and at least in one other 
place of his poem, as a substantive. Its common adjective- 
meaning tends to throw some confusion into the sentence. 
' Ire, envy, and despair,' are in apposition with passion, and 
are severally concordant with the distributive pronoun 'each.' 
Now the only manner in which I can approximate towards a 
clear representation of this blameable piece of latinity, is by 
making a quick flight over the portion ' dimm'd his face thrice 
changed with pale,' and by an abatement thereon ; by laying a 
strong emphasis on 'each passion,' and on 'ire, envy, and de- 
spair ;' and by applying the phrase of the rising ditone, with a 
marked temporal pause, at ' pale.' 

After all, it is a hard picture to paint for a taste that will 
have true colors — well laid on. 

In the present section, and in the two preceding, we have 
been occupied, more by considering the audible means of dis- 
playing the sense of discourse, than by pointing out the signs 
of expression. But the delineation of sense must, in all cases, 
be co-existent with the representation of what is distinctively 
called sentiment. 

In this section, and in other parts of this essay, I have been 

induced to select examples for illustration, from the prime 

works of poetry ; inasmuch as the strength and variety of 

their execution, aflbrd the widest field for the use of the re- 

V 



162 THE INTERVAL OF THE OCTAVE. 

markable functions of speech ; and because I am persuaded, 
that if the principles which I am endeavouring to establish, be 
comprehended by the reader, he will have no difficulty in ap- 
plying them to the less intricate modes of prose. Yet 1 must 
again repeat, that I have taken upon myself the part of a phy- 
siologist, not of a rhetorician. 



SECTION XIII. 
Of the Interval of the Octave. 

In the foregoing history of expression, the part performed 
by the variations of Pitch was described, only as it appears in 
the radical and vanishing movement, through the interval of a 
single tone. 

In speaking of the diatonic use of the concrete, and of its 
progress in the melody of simple narrative, it was said that the 
vanish never rises above the interval of a tone ; and that the 
variations of the radical pitch, whether upwards or downwards, 
never exceed the limits of this same interval. Now such un- 
passionate narrative as was then supposed, is rarely found of 
any continuance : but the mode and occasions of the excep- 
tions having been reserved for future explanation, I avoided 
confusing the subject then in hand, by restrictive remarks, 
which could not have been understood without much digres- 
sive explanation. The wider intervals of pitch which are used 
for expression, are now to be described. 

By the term Octave, which is set at the head of this section, 
is meant the concrete rise of the voice, from any assumed 
place, through superior parts of the scale, until it ends or 
vanishes in the eighth degree, or in the octave to that radical 
at which it began. This concrete interval is employed for the 
expression of interrogation ; and it is further used as one of the 



THE INTERVAL OF THE OCTAVE. 163 

means for distinguishing words, by the function which is called 
emphasis. The octave is not limited to those phrases alone 
which carry the common grammatical notation of a question. 
There are some declaratory sentences which are made interro- 
gative, by intonation ; and there are many occasions in dis- 
course, on which the sentiments of the speaker are so nearly 
poised between certainty and doubt, that he admits, by an in- 
terrogative movement, the hesitation of inquiry, in the very 
confidence of assertion. The octave being the widest interval 
of the speaking scale, is significant of the greatest vehemence 
or earnestness of an interrogative sense. It is likewise the ap- 
propriate mode of intonation, if the question is accompanied 
with sneer, contempt, mirth, raillery, and the temper or 
triumph of quick and of peevish argument. 

From the time required in drawing out the interval of an 
octave, it must be obvious, that this mode of interrogation can 
be executed conspicuously, only on a syllable capable of pro- 
longation — How then can the interrogative expression be given 
on a short and immutable syllable ? The process by which 
this is done, will be described hereafter, with particular re- 
ference to interrogative sentences. It may be here transiently 
illustrated by the following notation : — 



^p^f 



tf_^_^i_^ r / * ~ «r 



In this scheme, it is visible that the discrete change or skip 
is made from the radical line of the concrete octave, to a line 
along the height of the vanish of that same octave. Now im- 
mutable syllables, in an interrogative sentence, are transferred 
by radical change to the summit of the concrete interrogative 
interval, and thus discretely produce the expressive effect 
of that interval, though less remarkably than the indefinite 
syllables which pass through the concrete rise. As there are 
more short syllables than long ones in most sentences, the dis- 
crete change, as here exhibited, must be the predominating 
mode of interrogative intonation. The above scheme shows 
further, that after the radical pitch has assumed the line of the 



164 THE INTERVAL OF THE OCTAVE. 

vanishing octave, the voice proceeds in the diatonic melody on 
that line, until the occurrence of a syllable which requires 
and will bear the concrete rise ; then the radical pitch descends 
to form a new octave concrete. Thus it appears, that the rule 
of intonation, laid down when speaking of the diatonic melody 
of simple narration, does not apply to the melody of interroga- 
tive sentences ; for these employ a more extended concrete 
interval, and a wider discrete transition in their changes of 
radical pitch. 

When the octave is used for the purpose of emphasis, the 
voice immediately descends after its concrete rise on the em- 
phatic word, to the original line of radical pitch, as in the fol- 
lowing notation : 




But this matter of emphasis is to be treated more parti- 
cularly, and to be illustrated hereafter. 

I have to remark finally, on the use of the concrete octave 
and its radical change, as the means of interrogative and em- 
phatic expression, that as this highest interval of the scale is 
employed for the most earnest degrees of these purposes, it is 
of less frequent occurrence in speech, than the following in- 
tervals of the fifth and the third. 



THE INTERVAL OF THE FIFTH. 165 

SECTION XIV. 
Of the Interval of the Fifth. 

The radical and vanishing Fifth, like the octave, is used for 
interrogation and for emphasis ; but has, however, less of the 
smart inquisitiveness which is implied by this last interval. 
It is the most common mode of interrogative intonation ; and 
may convey a question with sentiments of wonder and admira- 
tion. It has none of the flippancy of the octave ; is equally 
capable of energy, and is always more dignified in its appeal. 
The explanatory remarks in the last section, on the subject of 
the change of radical pitch, in interrogation and emphasis, ap- 
ply to the like uses of the fifth. That is, in interrogative 
sentences, after the voice has made a discrete change by radi- 
cal pitch, through the interval of a fifth, the succeeding melody 
may continue at its elevation, till again brought down for the 
purpose of a new concrete rise : and after the use of the fifth 
for emphatic distinction on a single word, the pitch immediate- 
ly returns to the original line of the current melody. 

From the preceding account of the intonation of the octave 
and of the fifth, we learn that their effects are cognizable under 
two different modes — the concrete rise, and the radical change ; 
that the former of these modes is impressed more remarkably 
on the ear ; and that the distinction between the interrogative 
and emphatic use of these intervals, consists in the difference 
of the number of syllables, to which these intervals are applied. 

It was said that the intonation of the octave, whether by 
concrete or by radical pitch, is rarely employed ; since a rise 
of eight notes above the ordinary line of utterance carries most 
speakers into the falsette. And even with those in whom the 
rise might not exceed the natural voice, the melody when sud- 
denly changed to that height would often be ludicrous, from 
contrast ; or would be in danger of breaking into the falsette 
in its variations j or would be beyond the limits of the 
speaker's skilful execution. These objections do not ap- 



166 THE INTERVAL OP THE THIRD. 

ply to an occasional use of radical pitch through the ascent 
of the fifth ; the variation being less striking in contrast, 
and the interval of a fifth above the common range of the voice 
being rarely beyond practicable management. 

Besides the above described uses of the octave and fifth, 
there are, in common life, some cant modes of exclamation, 
and other familiar and vulgar voices which are made on these 
intervals. I omit further notice of them. 



SECTION XV. 
Of the Interval of the Third. 

The concrete Third, like the two last named intervals, is 
used in asking a question, and in the intonation of emphasis. 
But the strength of its indication is less than the fifth. It is 
merely the sign of simple interrogation, in its most moderate 
degree ; and carries with it none of those sentiments which, 
jointly with the question, were allotted to those other move- 
ments. 

Besides the exceptions to the rule of the plain diatonic me- 
lody, in the use of the octave and fifth, it must now be added, 
that the general current of the tone is further varied, by the 
introduction of the interval of the concrete third, and by the 
change of radical pitch through the extent of this interval. It 
is more frequently used than either of the two former ; for, al- 
though it is more rarely employed than the fifth, in interroga- 
tion, it is the most common form of emphatic intonation. In 
pointing out the phrases of melody, it was said, that the rising 
tritone, or upward succession of three radicals, on as many 
syllables, is occasionally employed. Now by the nature of the 
scale, three radical places contain the interval of a third : it is 
therefore the union of the constituents of a tritone, rejecting 



THE INTERVAL OF THE THIRD. 167 

the vanish of the last, that makes the proper concrete third. 
This concrete as regards interrogative effect, is more impres- 
sive than the discrete rise of the radicals ; for if the phrase ' Go 
you there,' be uttered with the rising tritone, or one syl- 
lable successively a tone in its radical pitch above the preced- 
ing, with a downward vanish on each, it will have the char- 
acter of an imperative sentence. But if the first word should 
move through the space of the tritone by a concrete rise, and 
the two others should be uttered at the top of that concrete, 
the effect would be interrogative, notwithstanding both might 
bear the downward vanish. — The same would be the case if 
the second word had the concrete, and the last the radical 
change ; or, if the two former were to have the common dia- 
tonic melody, and the last alone the concrete rise. These 
would be the different processes for effecting the interrogative 
expression, according as the sense might require the emphasis 
on different words. 

There is a mode of replication in common speech, especially 
used by the Scots, consisting of a repetition of the affirmative 
yes, or aye, in the radical and vanishing third ; and whilst the 
words seem to pay the courtesy of assent, the interrogative na- 
ture of the intonation still insinuates the hesitation of doubt or 
surprise. Should the sentiment which dictates these words be 
of unusual energy, the expression will assume the form of the 
fifth, or octave. 

When the reader will hereafter have acquired the prefatory 
knowledge which is necessary for the full comprehension of 
the nature of emphasis, it will be definitely explained, in what 
manner and on what occasions the octave, the fifth, and the 
third, are employed, in this important function of correct and 
impressive speech. But it may belong to this place to remark, 
that as the emphasis which is given to the prominent words of 
concessive, conditional, and hypothetical sentences, carries 
with it, in a measure, the latent sentiment of an interrogatory, 
its application may properly be illustrated here. The fol- 
lowing examples of conditionality and concession, call for a 
high interval on the words marked in italics. 

Then when I am thy captive talk of chains, 
Proud limitary Cherub 1 but ere then, 



168 THE INTERVAL OF THE THIRD, 

Far heavier load thyself expect to feel 

From my prevailing arm, though Heaven's king 

Ride on thy wings. 

So in the hypothesis of the following sentence : 



If I must contend, said he, 



Best with the hest, the sender, not the sent. 

And the same with the exceptive phrase marked in these 
lines : 

The undaunted fiend what this might be, admired; 
Admired, not fear'd. God and his Son except, 
Created thing naught valued he, nor shunn'd. 

It is not the purpose to decide here, which of the high inter- 
vals is to be set respectively on the strong words of these ex- 
amples. The citations were made, merely to show that the 
third or fifth, or octave, may be used on the emphatic syl- 
lables of such sentences. 

The interval of the minor third, as we have seen in the first 
section, consists of one tone and a half. It has a plaintive ex- 
pression, and is not, as far as I have observed, employed for 
any of those purposes of interrogation, conditionality or con- 
cession, which are here ascribed to the major third. The rare 
occasions of its use in speech will be mentioned hereafter. 

It may perhaps be useful, in this place, for the reader to take 
a retrospect over the subject of melody, as it has thus far been 
described ; and to look upon it as consisting of the diatonic 
phrases formerly enumerated, varied by the occasional in- 
troduction of the higher intervals of the octave, fifth, and third. 
In speaking of the melody of simple narrative, the radical 
changes of that style were reduced to seven elementary forms. 
It may be thought that the further use of these higher intervals, 
in the transitions of pitch, justifies an additional nomenclature, 
for the phrases which are employed in expression. It does so ; 
and the phrase of the eighth, of the fifth, and of the third, 
when the transition is made by the radical skip, are the terms 
by which these new forms of melodial progression in speech 
may be respectively designated. 



INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 169 

SECTION XVI. 

Of the Intonation of Interrogative Sentences. 



Having ascribed the powers of interrogation to the octave 
and fifth and third, 1 defer, for a moment, the history of the 
remaining elements of pitch, in order to point out the mode of 
employing those intervals, in the course of an interrogative 
sentence ; that we may thereby learn how they are related 
both to its current melody and cadence. 

With a view to exhibit the forceful effect of the interrogative 
intervals, when unsupported by those grammatical construc- 
tions which generally indicate a question, let us take the fol- 
lowing sentence: 

Give Brutus a statue with his ancestors. 

This sentence is significative of an intention to honor the 
patriot, and is imperative in that purpose. But if the versa- 
tile plebeian should, the next moment, have a new light of 
discernment, he might deny the tribute, by repeating the very 
words of the decree, with the sneering intonation of a ques- 
tion — 

Give Brutus a statue with his ancestors'? 

The different modes of the voice in these two instances, 
would be perceptible to every hearer : nor could the altered in- 
tention of the speaker, in the last ease, be mistaken. The 
conspicuous effect of this line, when read in the latter way, 
proceeds from the use of the rising interval of the fifth on each 
of the syllables ; and it shows the power of that rise in chan- 
ging an imperative to an interrogative expression. I say, the 
interval is used either concretely or by a radical change, on 
each syllable of the sentence. In this way the question is com- 
pletely and strongly conveyed ; for should the fifth be em- 
ployed upon every word except the last, and should this be 
W 



170 THE INTONATION 

uttered with the diatonic triad, the expression of the sneer will 
be lost. If the interrogative effect be given to the last word, 
and omitted on the others, it will, in some degree, denote an 
inquiry ; but much less forcibly than when the intonation is 
applied to every syllable. The preceding examples were giv- 
en, merely to show the effect of the higher intervals when 
compared with the simple concrete of the tone or second in a 
diatonic melody. A description of the manner of applying 
these intervals, for the purposes of interrogation, is reserved 
for an approaching page. 

Before we enter on this proposed analysis, the purposes of 
elementary instruction require some notice of the different de- 
grees of the interrogative expression ; since some sentences de- 
mand its employment on every syllable, whilst others are fully 
significative of the question by its partial application. But to 
be more definite : 

By the term Thorough interrogative expression, I mean the 
use of the intended interval on every syllable of the sentence : 

By Partial interrogative expression — the use of the interval 
on one or a few syllables ; others, and particularly those at the 
close, having the melody of plain declarative discourse. 

The proper reading of the questions contained in the follow- 
ing selections, may serve to illustrate the nature of the above 
named division's. When Clarence enters guarded, at the end 
of the opening soliloquy of King Richard III, Gloster thus 
addresses him : — 

Brother, good day ! what means this armed guard 
That waits upon your grace 1 

Here the interrogative intonation is heard only on parts of 
the clause, what means this armed guard; the rest of the sen- 
tence has both the current and cadence of the diatonic melody. 

When the queen, in the third scene of the first act, says : 

By Heaven, I will acquaint his majesty 
Of those gross taunts I often have endured. 

Gloster retorts : 

What ! threat you me with telling of the king 1 

This proud and angry question must have the interrogative 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 171 

intonation throughout its current, with the unfinished rising 
at the close, or it will not express the spirit of the speaker. 

As the characteristic mode in each of these questions can not 
be interchangeably transferred, and as every question has 
either an appointed universality or a restriction, in the degree 
of its expression, it is a necessary inference, that some direc- 
tive principles must be operative on good readers, where such 
can be found, in designating the places and marking the limits 
of this expression. I have only transiently investigated this 
curious subject of speech. The result of my observation per- 
suades me, that the subject itself is not beyond the purpose of 
this essay ; though I have not, at present, time nor need to 
make this matter extended in detail, and satisfactory in system. 
1 therefore beg the reader to receive the following remarks, as 
suggestions upon points of inquiry ; and as proposals, which 
will be submissive under correction, and revocable before the 
influence of a broader view, and a more discriminating analysis. 

If I perceive rightly the relationship between the intonation, 
and the words of a question, the circumstances which direct 
the thorough and the partial use of expression, arise out of the 
following conditions of the form and spirit of the phraseology. 

Sentences are employed with an interrogative intention, un- 
der various modes of construction. They are framed assert- 
ively, and derive the power of a question solely from intona- 
tion : or they are made by the reversed position of the natural 
order of the nominative and verb : or by joining certain pro- 
nouns or adverbs with the preceding condition : or they are of 
a positive or negative texture : or they may embrace expletive 
or assertive clauses, in connexion with the phrase containing 
the point of the question : or they may include two or more 
questions connected by a copulative or disjunctive conjunction : 
or finally, two or more interrogative sentences may separately 
succeed each other in series. 

With respect to the sentiment or spirit of the phrase, an in- 
quiry may be grounded on the real ignorance or doubt of the 
interrogator : or it may intimate a knowledge of the subject ; 
nay, in an extension of this condition, a question is sometimes 
put as a triumphant mode of assertion. Interrogations may be 
urged with great earnestness, or addressed in a moderate tem- 
per ; they may be made with surprise or scorn or exultation. 



172 THE INTONATION 

These are some of the varieties under which interrogative 
sentences appear. I exclude from this view, all those interjec- 
tive clauses and appealing exclamations which editors frequent- 
ly mark with a note of interrogation. 

If we try the experiment of utterance, in the various cases 
above mentioned, we may be able to deduce some general rules 
on this subject ; or furnish approximations towards them, for 
the assistance of future researches. Let us make the attempt. 

It may be laid down as a rule, without an exception, that 
where an interrogative sentence has the assertive construction, 
it requires the Thorough expression. In addition to an exam- 
ple of this case, given in a preceding page, I here offer an il- 
lustration from Coriolanus, in which the same words are used 
as a declarative and as an interrogative phrase. In the fifth 
scene of the fourth act, the servant of Aufidius says to Corio- 
lanus — 

Where dwellest thou'? 

Cor. Under Die canopy. 

Ser. Under the canopy ? 

Cor. Ay. 

Ser. Where's that 1 ? 

Cor. In the city of kites and crows. 

Ser. In the city of kites and crows? 

The replications here set in italics should be read with the 
interrogative interval on every syllable ; and the reason is ob- 
vious. All assertive sentences, when meant interrogatively, 
are eliptical. Thus the speaker here means either with inqui- 
sitive doubt, — 'Did you say under the canopy' — or with real 
inquiry, — 'Where is under the canopy.' — And so of the other 
instance. But the grammatical sign of the question being 
omitted in these cases, it is necessary to supply the defect of 
the eljpsis, by the use of the thorough interrogative intonation. 
For if the interrogative interval be applied exclusively to any 
one of the words or syllables, except the last, it will constitute 
a mere declaration, with an emphasis on the word so marked. 
If it be set on many syllables, or on all except one, it will in- 
deed produce something of an interrogative effect, but quite 
unsatisfactory to the demands of the sense and the ear in this 
case. Should the expression be made on the last, while the 
other words run in the diatonic melody, the reading will fall 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 173 

short of the meaning of the phrase, if it should not, indeed, 
misrepresent it : since the unexpected rise at the close, instead 
of the consistent termination by the cadence, will produce an 
anomaly of utterance irreducible, by me at least, to any design 
of expression. 

When a sentence is constructed with the interrogative pro- 
nouns or adverbs, and embraces none of those sentiments which, 
I am presently about to say, call for the Thorough expression, 
it commonly appears under the Partial form. Some of the ex- 
ceptions to the generality of this rule will be mentioned, in 
speaking of the varying sentiments of an interrogative phrase, 
and of its final emphatic syllable. 

When the question is made by the nominative being placed 
after the verb or auxiliary, either the Partial or the Thorough 
intonation is employed. I need not illustrate the varieties of 
this case : the reader can readily recur to examples under it ; 
in which the propriety of a choice from diverse modes of into- 
nation, must be determined by the nature of the sentiment, the 
place or places of the emphasis, and the form of the sentence, 
whether it is short and simple, or extended and complex. 

Questions constructed with pronouns or adverbs, or with 
the reversed nominative, are made directly to the point of in- 
quiry, or indirectly by a negative, to its opposite. The into- 
nation of such questions has the Thorough or Partial expres- 
sion, according to the spirit or the emphasis of the sentence. 
The reader may run over the dialogue of the drama and find 
examples enough for the proof or correction of what is said on 
this point. 

When a sentence, besides the point of the question, has ad- 
ditional members or phrases which contain an address to a 
person, or assertions, or expletives, or causes, the expression 
assumes the partial form, as in the following instances : 

Of address : 

Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham 1 

Of assertion : 

Why did you laugh then, when I said, Man delights not me 1 



174 THE INTONATION 

Of expletive : 



What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 
That he should weep for herl 



Of cause 



What of his heart perceive you in his face, 
By- any likelihood he showed to day 1 

The reason of the rule seems to be here — that the additional 
clauses though modifying in some degree the leading point of 
the question, yet do not, in their separable membership, carry 
an interrogation, which that portion of the sentence, called 
here the point of the question, does. 

When two or more questions of moderate temper are con- 
nected by conjunctions, or when without this union by parti- 
cles, they succeed in series, it is not necessary that each ques- 
tion should severally have the degree of interrogative expres- 
sion which its solitary use might require. 

Give me thy hand. Thus high, by thy advice, 
And thy assistance, is king Richard seated: — 
But shall we wear these glories for a day 1 
Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them 1 



Are you call'd forth from out a world of men, 
To slay the innocent 1 What is my offence 1 
Where is the evidence that doth accuse mel 
What lawful quest have given their verdict up 
Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounced 
The bitter sentence of poor Clarence's death 1 

If this rule is not contravened by conditions which require 
universally the thorough expression, the question, in such in- 
stances as the above, is sometimes sufficiently marked, if some 
of the constituents of the series carry an interrogative interval 
on a single word; which reduces the expression to the state of 
a declarative sentence, having an emphatic word, so signalized 
by the given interval. Perhaps the reason of the rule may lie 
in this : — when the mind or ear of the auditor is in the hu- 
mour of the question, if 1 may so speak, the interrogation is 
sufficiently indicated by the grammatical construction of the 
sentence. 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 175 

With respect to the sentiment or the spirit of an interroga- 
tion, there are some notable properties which seem to govern 
the use of intonation. 

When the question is prompted by the ignorance or uncer- 
tainty of the speaker, and thus contains a real inquiry, it gen- 
erally bears the thorough expression; which must consequently 
in many instances, overrule the formulas for the partial intona- 
tion of sentences constructed with pronouns or adverbs, or with 
the inverted position of the nominative case, and of sentences 
in conjunction or series. 

Hamlet. Dost thoil hear me old friend 1 

Can you play the murder of Gonzago ? 



Prospero. Thy father was the duke of Milan, and 

A prince of power. 
Miranda. Sir are not you my father ? 

Although in the stated form of this rule, I have ascribed to 
it only a general operation, yet, when the question is made 
with much earnestness, its bearing is universal. 

The intonation appropriated to those questions which are 
made argumentatively, or in the way of a confident appeal, 
varies from the full thorough application, through all the de- 
grees of its partial use, to the very opposite expression of the 
most positive declaratory sentence : But of the appealing in- 
terrogation T shall speak hereafter. 

When a question is vehemently made, under any mode of 
construction of the sentence, and with any number of such 
questions, either in conjunction or in series, the rule may be 
received as very general, which assigns to the expression the 
thorough extent. 

Show me what thou'lt do ! 
Woo't weep? woo't fight 1 woo't fast? woo't tear thyself ? 
Woo't drink up Esil? eat a crocodile? 
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine? 
To outface me with leaping in her grave? 

The reader may find full illustration of this rule, by turning 
to Shylock's noted parallel between the Jew and the Christian, 
with his earnest resolve upon revenge — in the first scene of the 
third act of the Merchant of Venice. 



176 THE INTONATION 

If a question be addressed in a moderate temper of inquiry, 
the speaker will generally affect the partial mode of expression. 
When Hamlet says to Guildenstern, 

Will you play on this pipe"? 

the composure of mind, and the rank of the prince, mingle in 
the question the mild authority of a request, with the doubt of 
an inquiry ; and this is perhaps properly represented by the 
use of the interrogative intonation on the first part of the sen- 
tence, with a subsequent reposing descent of the diatonic ca- 
dence. It is true, the instrument is brought into the scene, 
and the question is thereupon put, with a view to the conse- 
quent quibble ; and on this ground, perhaps, the word pipe 
might be regarded as emphatic. Still the emphasis may be 
made by a stress or force of voice on the last constituent of the 
triad, as well as by the ascent of the interrogative interval. 

When a question is made with surprise, indignation, scorn, 
and other emotions of a similar spirit, it generally receives the 
thorough expression. I can not transcribe from the first act of 
Hamlet, so much as it furnishes to illustrate the influence of 
wonder, on the intonation of a question. But if the reader 
will turn to the scene between Hamlet, Horatio, and the two 
officers, he will find, that from the moment Horatio informs 
Hamlet of his having seen his father, there follows, on the part 
of the prince, a succession of questions, with both the declara- 
tory and interrogative construction, most of which require a 
marked use of the thorough expression. With like earnestness, 
Cleopatra, in the play which bears her name with Antony's, 
says to Proculeius, the friend of Caesar, 

Know sir, that I 
Will not wait pinioned at your master's court — 
Nor once be chastised with the sober eye 
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up, 
And show me to the shouting varletry 
Of censuring Rome ? Rather a ditch in iEgypt 
Be gentle grave unto me. 

The repulsive indignation of this question can not be fairly 
painted without the fullest measure of interrogative coloring. 

When the last syllable of a question is emphatic, and its in- 
tonation is not forcibly directed to the partial expression, by 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 177 

some one of the preceding rules, particularly by that which 
concerns the series, this last syllable bears the interrogative 
interval. Should the sentence be short, or consist of a single 
member, the expression will have a thorough application. In 
the dialogue between the murderers of Clarence, the second 
speaker exclaims and asks, — 

What! shall we stab him as he sleeps'? 

From the answer of his companion, it is plain that the ques- 
tion points at the act of sleeping, and this produces an interro- 
gative emphasis on the last word. Had the inquiry been 
whether the victim should be stabbed or strangled, the word 
' stab' would carry the emphatic intonation, and the sentence 
might end with the diatonic cadence. 

It will be shown, in a future section on exclamatory sen- 
tences, that many phrases having the grammatical construction 
of a question, and containing other and stronger sentiments 
that overrule the interrogative intonation, are not properly ex- 
pressed by rising intervals, but by the contrary movements of 
pitch. 

Having thus endeavoured to bring the subject of interroga- 
tive sentences, as regards the entire or the partial application 
of their expressive intonation into something like a systematic 
form, I must leave the correction of the errors of the effort, 
and the amplifying of its approved hints, as a work for the 
better ear and closer attention of others. 

Let us now proceed to consider more particularly the man- 
ner in which the interrogative intervals are applied to indi- 
vidual syllables. 

As prefatory to this investigation I must here make some 
remarks on the use of the radical and vanishing movement, 
when applied to short and immutable syllables. 1 formerly 
suggested the modes of trial, by which the existence of the 
various concretes might be exemplified on long quantities : and 
I likewise asserted that no syllable could be uttered without 
passing through the radical and vanish, under some form of 
intonation. We have now reached a point in our subject, at 
which the reader may receive the proof of this assertion, as 
respects the equable concrete of speech. 

I must suppose that the reader is familiar with the effect of 
X 



178 THE INTONATION 

the concrete rise through a third or fifth or octave which 
constitutes interrogative expression. Now let him take the 
immutable syllable, 'top,' which is one of the shortest in the 
language, and pronounce it as a mere sound, without meaning 
or sentiment. Again, let him utter it as a question: and he 
will perceive that with whatever rapidity it may be pronounced, 
he can still accomplish, on it, the peculiar effect of interroga- 
tive intonation. There is therefore in the last experiment some 
accident of the voice which is not heard in the first. The dis- 
tinction between the two cases arises solely from the use of a 
wider transit of the concrete progress in the latter. For it may 
be readily shown that it does not proceed from any peculiarity 
in the quality, nor from a certain degree in the force of the 
voice: and that it is not produced solely by a change of the 
syllable to a high place of pitch, without its concrete move- 
ment, may be ascertained by the following experiment. Let 
the reader, rise through the musical scale by repeating the word 
'top,' taking care to give it no more than the radical and 
vanish of a second at each degree : he will perceive that to 
whatever height he ascends, the interrogative intonation will 
not be produced. Now 1 know not to what this intonation, 
when heard on an immutable syllable, is to be ascribed, if not 
to a rapid flight of the voice, through a concrete interrogative 
interval. The audible effect justifies the conclusion ; though 
the succession of time, and of space on the scale, which is so 
distinctly perceptible in the movement of the slower concrete, 
is in this case of the immutable syllable, altogether beyond 
my power of measurement. 

It will appear in the trials above proposed, that the interro- 
gative effect is producible on the shortest syllables : and such 
experiments will warrant the general conclusion, that every 
interval of the scale is practicable on every syllable in speech. 
But it is to be remarked that the use of the wider intervals on 
short syllables, when compared with their application to long 
and indefinite ones, has a feebleness of interrogative expression 
directly proportional to the rapidity of their flight ; and conse- 
quently that the long and distinctly measurable concrete on 
indefinite syllables produces the strongest expression of inter- 
rogation. It is desirable, however, that the thorough expres- 
sion should be equally diffused : and as all syllables are not by 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 179 

length qualified to bear the slow and most eminent interro- 
gative concrete, it Follows that other means, besides those al- 
ready described, must be employed on short syllables, for the 
purpose of fulfilling strongly and uniformly the intonation of a 
question. The means for strengthening the comparative feeble- 
ness of interrogative expression on short syllables, consists in 
raising them, by the change of radical pitch, to the line of the 
summit of the slow concretes which are allotted to the in- 
definite quantities in a sentence ; as the following notation of 
a case of thorough expression will exemplify : 

Give Bru tus a sta tue with his an ces tors,]' 



£3E 



ttl=Fl=t=t=t 



In this scheme the interrogative intonation is made by the 
fifth on every syllable. To the two first, which are indefinite 
and emphatic, the slow concrete is applied. On the third, 
which is short, and therefore can not bear the slow concrete, 
the momentary rapid movement through the fifth takes place, 
whilst at the same time it is transferred by radical change, to 
the height of the preceding vanish. The melody continues at 
this height on all the following syllables, which are unem- 
phatic, or which if emphatic (as may be said of <stat') are of 
immutable quantity. At the indefinite syllable 'an' the radi- 
cal pitch descends, for the purpose of rising on that syllable by 
the slow concrete : and the two final short quantities terminate 
the melody by the radical change and the rapid vanish. 

It is by this method then, the union of a radical 

change with the rapid concrete, that a full and forcible power 
of interrogative intonation is given to those syllables which 
are too short to admit of the slower and more measurable move- 
ment. 

If the reader would be better satisfied, as to the execution of 
this function of the radical change, and the perception of its 
effect, through an exemplification on a single word, let him 
deliberately pronounce the noun 'convict,' as if it were an 



180 THE INTONATION 

earnest question. The syllable 'con' being an indefinite quan- 
tity, and emphatic, will be distinctly heard to rise concretely 
from a given point of pitch, to the place of the fifth or octave, 
according to the earnestness of the expression : and the im- 
mutable syllable 'vict,' will be heard at the height of that pre- 
vious vanish. If 'vict' be kept down at the level of the radi- 
cal of 'con,' and if it be there uttered, with the rapid concrete 
rise, carefully guarding against the descent to a close, the in- 
terrogative effect will indeed still be perceptible, but in a de- 
gree far inferior to the keen questioning of the former mode of 
intonation. 

It is not difficult to assign the reason why the interrogative 
effect of the rapid concrete is enhanced, by its being taken on 
the higher places of the scale. For the rise by the slow con- 
crete, is after all, but a peculiar mode of change from a low to 
a high pitch : and though that peculiar continuous mode is 
plainly distinguishable, in its degree of expression, from a dis- 
crete ascent to the same height, still an essential though not 
the exclusive power of the former function, is, its designating 
that higher place. Now this power is the sole efficient in the 
radical change ; and like two discrete notes on a musical instru- 
ment, when heard in immediate succession as the extremes of 
a wide interval of the scale, it does produce an effect closely 
resembling that which arises from a concrete transition of 
sound between the same extremes. If to this effect of the 
radical change, be added the coincident and co-operating ex- 
pression of the rapid concrete, the combined effects become 
equivalent to that interrogative expression which is given by 
the longer concrete on an indefinite syllable. 

As the rapid concrete on a short syllable, whether it be em- 
phatic or not, does, however moderately, produce an interro- 
gative impression, it may be used, without, the radical change, 
in those cases which do not require a strongly marked intona- 
tion of the question. That is, all the interrogative syllables of 
sentences which bear the partial expression, (for a thorough 
expression is generally forcible,) may be kept at about the 
same line of radical pitch. But the syllables so disposed must 
still perform their rapid concrete in the appropriate interroga- 
tive interval : and it will generally be found that the moderate 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 181 

temper of such questions receives the abated expression which 
was ascribed to the Third, in the history of that interval. 

Besides that certain succession of radical change which has 
been noted and explained, there is this other mode, in the ap- 
plication of the general principle of its construction. If the 
first part of a sentence should consist of short quantities, which 
resist extension through the slow concrete, the interrogative ex- 
pression may be made, by the voice setting out at once on the 
high pitch, and descending afterwards at the first emphatic 
syllable of long quantity, which will bear the slow concrete. 
Thus, if we take the two first symbols of intonation from the 
preceding example, and set over the remaining notation, the 
following phrase, as an earnest question : 

Pitt a statue with his ancestors? 

the reading will have the just interrogative expression. 

Perhaps the reader is now prepared to understand me when 
I say generally, That the current melody of interrogation, in 
those sentences which require the Thorough expression, is 
made by the use of the slow concrete interval of the third or 
fifth or octave, on the long and emphatic syllables ; and by a 
change of radical pitch, together with the rapid concrete of 
the same interval, on those which are short and unemphatic or 
unaccented : that in those sentences which are restricted to the 
Partial expression, the intonation is made by a similar use of 
the above named interrogative intervals, in connexion with 
the phrases of the common diatonic melody : and that in 
both these cases of a Thorough and a Partial extent of expres- 
sion, the interrogation may be constituted solely by the Third, 
or the Fifth, or the Octave ; or more than one of these inter- 
vals may be used in the same sentence, accordingly as the em- 
phatic force and the sentiment of the several words require, on 
the one hand, the same expression, and on the other, an appro- 
priation of the peculiar powers of the different intervals to the 
varying demands of those words. 

Let us now learn the mode of constructing the cadence of 
interrogative sentences : or, as some of these sentences have 
not that peculiar characteristic of close or discontinuation 
which belongs to the cadence strictly so called, let us learn the 
the manner of intonation on their three final syllables. 



182 THE INTONATION 

If a sentence bears the Thorough expression, the close is 
made in one of the following ways. 

When the three last syllables are unemphatic, or immutable, 
or are the unaccented syllables of an emphatic word, the inter- 
rogative effect is produced by a radical change and rapid con- 
crete of these three final syllables : these syllables, in their ex- 
alted pitch being carried on in the phrase of the monotone or 
rising ditone. For since the interrogative expression should 
always create that perception of continuity which is contra- 
distinguished in character from the close of the Triad, the 
above named phrases do add their peculiar power, in this re- 
spect, to that of the rapid concrete, in order to give the re- 
quired continuation of the voice at the end of the sentence. This 
species of close is exemplified in the ensuing notation : 

He said you were in com pa ra ble'? 



T=l—^-4—t= 3=tt 



J £ 



The same case of Thorough expression being supposed : if 
the antepenultimate syllable is emphatic, and of indefinite quan- 
tity, it assumes the slow concrete, and the two last take on the 
radical change and the rapid concrete ; as shown by the nota- 
tion of the word ' ancestors' in a preceding example. 

If, in a like case, the penult be a long quantity, it will rise 
by the slow concrete ; and the last will have the rapid move- 
ment with the radical change. This mode of intonation may 
be well understood without a notation of it ; and I here take 
occasion to remark that it will be unnecessary to annex an il- 
lustration by the staff, to all the succeeding descriptions within 
the present subject. 

If the last syllable of a sentence which bears the thorough 
expression, be emphatic and capable of the slow concrete, it 
will end with that continuative interval. Under this condition 
the three last syllables may go through the downward tritone, 
as in the following scheme : 



OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 183 

Give Fab ius a tri umph for his de — lay? 



^trz-J3 =£E£ 



In such instances the final rise of the octave, fifth or third, 
as the case may be, will create the perception of continuity, 
and thus counteract the tendency of the radical descent, through 
three successive downward tones, to produce a close : for it is 
a condition of the cadence, that the vanish of its last concrete 
should be a downward intonation. 

When the expression is Partial, and when the last clause of 
the sentence does not bear it, it is obvious that the melody of 
that clause must be of the common diatonic species, and should 
therefore terminate with the appropriate triad. But sentences 
with the partial expression sometimes have one of the three 
final syllables emphatic : in which case the emphatic syllable 
may call for the interrogative expression. Under this condi- 
tion the following will be the forms of the cadence. 

If the antepenultimate syllable be emphatic, and indefinite, 
it will bear the slow concrete interval 5 and the two last will 
successively descend from the radical of that concrete, and 
form with it, a proper diatonic triad. 

If the penult be emphatic and bear the slow concrete, the 
last syllable will have its radical pitch a tone below that of the 
preceding, and by its downward vanish will produce the close 
of the triad ; the emphatic syllable which bears the interroga- 
tive intonation, being in its radical pitch, a tone below the 
antepenultimate. This mode, however, is not common : for 
if the expression by the concrete interval comes so near the 
close, it is generally continued, by the last syllable taking the 
radical change. 

When the last syllable is emphatic and of indefinite time, 
the cadence is made in the same manner with that of the last 
instance, in the preceding account of thorough expression. 

The history here given of interrogative intonation embraces 
some leading points of its use in speech. I leave the discovery 
of more particular phenomena, and the exhibition of the reason 



184 THE INTERVAL OF THE SECOND. 

and rule of their variety, for the observation of others. Upon 
some future extension of the principles of this work to the uni- 
versal practice of speech, the subject of interrogative intonation 
will form a chapter of full and precise specification. I think I 
see its unsorted materials ; but have not time to gather in, to 
disentangle, to harmonize, to combine, and complete. What is 
here done may seem to be too much. For the present age, 1 be- 
lieve it is. But this is a concession altogether irrelative to the 
progress of knowledge, and to the pleasure we derive from its 
development. A novel history of nature, in the dignified con- 
fidence of even its humble contributions, no more asks the fa- 
vor of those who read, than nature herself asks the gratitude of 
those who enjoy her bounties. She gives what she gives for 
her own purposes, without distracting her self-energized dis- 
pensations, by the subordinate and humanly contrived spring 
of expected approbation. The true and independent history 
of nature should be in all things but the image of her ; and 
perhaps he would both do and enjoy more, in the work of dis- 
covering and describing her, who could catch a portion of the 
unostentatious spirit with which she bestows, and who could 
put on some of her indifference, to the thoughtless praise or 
blame of those who receive. 






SECTION XVII. 



Of the Interval of the Second. 



I return from the foregoing account of the use of the higher 
intervals of pitch, in the construction of interrogative melody, 
to the enumeration and description of other intervals of more 
limited extent, but of no less essential efficacy in the scale of 
intonation. 



THE INTERVAL OF THE SECOND. 185 

The rising interval of the second, or the proper radical and 
vanishing tone, has in previous parts of this essay been largely- 
spoken of, both as regards its nature and position in speech. 
I here reconsider the subject of this interval, with a view to 
complete the enumeration of all the concrete spaces of the 
speaking scale : and to join one or two additional remarks to 
the recapitulation of its qualities and uses. It is the basis of 
what I have called the diatonic melody ; and in correct and 
agreeable elocution, is more frequently used than any other 
interval : since it is appropriate to all those parts of discourse 
which convey the plain thoughts of the speaker; if these may 
be contradistinguished from those emphatic meanings and sen- 
timents, which I designed to embrace under the head of Ex- 
pression. Although I thus exclude the Tone, when used in 
its simplest state, from among the especial agents of expression, 
I shall show hereafter, that it may receive a stress on different 
parts of its concrete course, which gives a marked coloring to 
its intonation : and it has already been told, in the section on 
Time, that an extension of the voice on syllables of long quan- 
tity, produces a deliberate enunciation, a dignity and a smooth- 
ness which give the highest qualities of the diatonic melody, 
without a departure from its characteristic simplicity. 

In an early part of this essay, I asserted that the radical and 
vanish are necessary functions of utterance ; or in other words, 
that no impulse of the voice can be given, without going 
through the concrete. I have since shown the means for ascer- 
taining the passage of this concrete through the higher intervals 
of the scale, both in the protracted and the rapid time of sylla- 
bles. When I assert that immutable syllables, in a diatonic 
melody, do pass instantaneously through the concrete second 
or tone, I am bound to confess that my ear can not measure di- 
rectly the fluent course of the transition. Yet I am led to the 
conclusion that the fact is so, by the following considerations : — 

Every case of concrete utterance of a tone, in which the in- 
crements of time and motion are perceptible, has manifestly 
the radical and vanishing progression. Now when the time of 
this manifest concrete is gradually shortened, in repeated pro- 
nunciation, till the syllabic impulse becomes, as it were, a 
mere point of sound, the effect of this instant impulse on the 



186 THE INTERVAL OF THE SECOND. 

ear does not differ materially from that of the last degree in 
which the increments of the concrete progress are discernible. 

But further, I have shown that the interrogative intervals of 
the third, the fifth, and the octave, might be passed through 
on an immutable syllable. This was proved by the peculiar 
effect of the interrogative voice being distinctly cognizable on 
this sort of syllable : and I shall show, in the next section, that 
the smaller interval of the semitone, the peculiar expression of 
which may be recognized, whatever is the time of utterance, 
does likewise pass through the concrete, on the shortest sylla- 
bles. Now we can scarcely refuse to the Tone, the attribution 
of that concrete movement on momentary syllables, which be- 
longs to all the other intervals of the scale, when uttered with 
the same momentary impulse. This however, is certain : — 
there is one audible effect of the enunciation of immutable syl- 
lables clearly distinguishable from that of their utterance through 
the concrete space of the semitone, the third and other higher 
intervals. This may be a mere point of voice ; but for the 
above reasons, I do believe it to be a rapid concrete passage 
through the second or tone. 

Perhaps the reader may desire to know particularly, to what 
portions of discourse the Tone or second is applied, and with 
what continuity the diatonic melody, which consists in a play 
on this Tqne, is used. In describing and illustrating this me- 
lody, I represented it as extended through successive sentences. 
The diatonic movement is however, rarely found of long con- 
tinuation : the current of the Tone being intersected by the in- 
terposition of concretes with a different range of pitch. I have 
already said that the higher intervals of the scale are used for 
interrogative expression ; that they are likewise applied to sin- 
gle words, as one of the modes of emphasis ; and I shall show 
that other elements of pitch are occasionally introduced for this 
same purpose of emphatic expression. Now as these occasions 
for using the other intervals occur in most discourse, it will be 
found that the diatonic melody generally exists in detached 
portions ; the continuity of the melody in the tone or second 
being broken by those other intervals : and this interruption 
will be more or less frequent, according to the prevalence of 
expression. A Gazette advertisement, a legal instrument, and 
the purely communicative style of plain narrative and of de- 



THE INTERVAL OF THE SECOND. 187 

scription may generally be read in the thorough diatonic melo- 
dy. But there are few compositions which are addressed to 
taste, that have not their melody varied by the more or less 
frequent occurrence of the coloring of higher intervals than the 
second. According to the line 1 have endeavoured to draw 
between mere thoughts and what are called sentiments or feel- 
ings, and consistently with their appropriate intonation, it 
might be supposed that the demonstrations of Euclid should be 
read in one continuous stream of diatonic melody ; but even 
these are perpetually varied by the higher intervals, introdu- 
ced upon illative, absolute, and conditional phrases. The frag- 
ments of diatonic melody, occurring in prose declamation, in 
poetry, and in the drama, are generally small : and conversa- 
tion, when not didactic, nor designedly solemn, nor unavoid- 
ably dull, almost banishes the melody of the tone, in the vivid 
coloring of its highly inflected intonation. 

Since I have assigned restrictively, the interval of the se- 
cond, in the form of the diatonic melody, to a certain charac- 
ter of discourse ; and since it is desirable that this melody 
should be executed with the greatest propriety and elegance, it 
may not be amiss to point out the mode of managing the second, 
for the attainment of these qualities. 

The diatonic melody being deprived of the resources of the 
higher intervals, and other modes of intonation, by which 
more sentimental discourse is expressively adorned, is limited 
to the means of excellence, arising out of the skilful ordering 
of time and stress. The different forms of stress which may 
be applied to a concrete rise of the second, will be described in 
a future section. The other principal means for adding dignity 
and grace to the delivery of a passage of this plain melody, and 
for producing a well measured rythmus, is by the adjusted va- 
riety of length, in the quantity of syllables. It is not, how- 
ever, by the prolongation alone, that a clear and agreeable 
enunciation is effected, in a dignified form of diatonic speech. It 
is necessary that the length should be made with the equable 
movement which peculiarly constitutes this mode of intonation : 
and further, that the voice, in this equable rise of the tone, 
6hould have that full opening and subsequent gradual diminu- 
tion, which suggested its subdivided distinction by terms, into 
radical and vanishing movement. He who has not cultivated 



188 THE CHROMATIC 

his voice in these particulars, will find it difficult to give the 
extreme protraction of an indefinite syllable, with its co-exis- 
tent qualities of equability and vanish. He will, on trial, be 
very apt to carry out a long quantity, with the intonation of 
song. Being now acquainted with the three modes of the ra- 
dical and vanishing movement, the light and guidance of a spe- 
cial purpose in study and practice, instead of the faltering 
blindness of imitation, may lead us to an unerring command 
over the equable concrete of speech. 

The power of making long quantities on indefinite syllables, 
with the precision of boundary and the smoothness and nicety 
of vanish belonging to the best execution of thisequable move- 
ment, is one of the most attractive and the rarest accomplish- 
ments of a speaker. The skilful performance of this concrete 
function, in the impressive fulness and dignity of the Orotund 
voice, gives the acknowledged satisfaction to a discerning ear, 
when an accomplished actor first breaks his silence in the dia- 
logue ; even though it is by a solitary syllable. With this tem- 
per of voice, his opening efforts cleave their way at once to 
approbation ; and need no working on a dull material through 
the tedious whetting of a whole act, to bring it to an edge. 






SECTION XVIII. 



Of the Interval of the Semitone ; and of the Chromatic 
Melody founded thereon. 



The smallest but not the least important division of the scale, 
through which the radical and vanishing movement may be 
heard, is the interval of the Semitone. In the second section 
of this essay, I described the means by which the reader can 
acquire a distinct perception of this concrete interval. It was 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 189 

there said, that, if in ascending the scale, the effect of the tran- 
sition from the seventh to the eighth place be compared with 
the syllabic utterance of a plaintive sentiment, their identity- 
will be acknowledged. Now the interval from the seventh to 
the eighth, in the diatonic scale, is a semitone. This interval 
is used in speech for the expression of complaint, pity, grief, 
plaintive supplication, and other sentiments congenial with 
these. 

If we ascend through the diatonic scale, by a repetition of 
the word ' fire/ subdivided into two syllables, so that ' fi' 
and ' yer' shall be alternately set on each point of the scale, 
it will be perceived that the transition from the seventh to the 
eighth place gives the same expression to the word ' fire,' 
as when it is uttered through the streets in the outcry of alarm. 

The intonation by the concrete semitone, is universally, the 
symbol of nature for animal distress : and in the above mode 
of exemplification on the scale, its effect is very different from 
that of the concrete passage of the word through the space of a 
whole tone, between the first and second points of the scale. 
Among a multitude of voices, where the alarm is given by 
public cry, this utterance through the second is occasionally 
heard : and I am sure some of my readers may be able to call 
to mind the defect of its dissonant difference from the intona- 
tion of the great majority. I can not exemplify it by the pen : 
but when the uncommon impression of a particular cry is not 
produced by quality or shrillness, it generally arises from this 
misapplied form of pitch. The genera of mankind always 
show forth their characteristics ; and though there may some- 
times be error in judging of the full aggregate of qualities 
thereby, there is often truth, and always caution, and economy 
of opinion in the use of the rule. Be this as it may, I never 
hear the cry of ' fire' made through the interval of a whole 
tone, without a persuasion of the general impotence or defor- 
mity of that voice or that ear, which can, in this particular, so 
far transgress the ordination of nature. 

The semitone is employed for the expression of gentleness 
of feeling : and never for that of great energy, harshness or 
impetuosity of thought. It affects generally a slow time and 
long quantity in utterance. The interjective exclamations of 
pain, grief, love and compassion are prolongations of the tonic 



190 THE CHROMATIC 

elements on this interval. But it can be executed, and the 
effect of it is distinctly perceptible, as I hinted in the last sec- 
tion, on the short time of immutable syllables. For it will be 
found on experiment, that the word 'cup,' or any similar 
immutable, can be uttered in a plaintive or complaining tone, 
even in its shortest time. Since then this plaintiveness, when 
made with long quantities, on which the transition may be dis- 
tinctly measured, is always produced by the concrete semitone, 
and not by a movement through any other known interval of 
the scale; it may be fairly concluded, when this plaintiveness 
is heard on an immutable syllable, that the semitone is rapidly 
performed, even though the gradual course of its time and 
motion is imperceptible. 

In the next section, I intend to speak of the nature and uses 
and various intervals of the downward vanishing movement. 
But it is necessary to consider here. transiently the downward 
vanish of the semitone ; since its function is involved in the 
subject of the chromatic melody of speech which I am about to 
describe. 

The downward radical and vanishing semitone may be ex- 
emplified, by beginning at the top of the scale, with the word 
'fire,' divided as above into two syllables, with the addition 
of the subtonic 'y-e,' and descending by the alternate use of 
these syllables. The sound, in the concrete passage from the 
eighth degree to the seventh, will have a plaintive character, 
though somewhat different from that of its upward progress 
through the same interval. Whereas the concrete passage 
downward through a whole tone, between the second and first, 
will not produce that plaintive effect. From this account it 
may be understood, that if the voice should rise concretely 
through the semitone, and afterwards in continuation should 
descend through it, the effect as far as regards expression, 
would be an iteration of movement, and a prolonged influence 
of the plaintive character. Now as the sentiment which dic- 
tates the semitone usually affects a slow time and an exten- 
sion of syllabic quantity, the expression of this interval is gen- 
erally made by the continuity of its upward and downward 
concrete movement. This structure answers two important 
purposes. It creates a stronger impression of the sentiment : 
and by doubling the interval, it allows a prolongation of quan- 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 191 

tity, without endangering the integrity of the equable concrete, 
by the liability of a long quantity, to pass into the protracted 
radical or vanish of song and recitative. The expressive char- 
acter of this doubled semitone may be exemplified by making 
an immediate return in the downward direction, after having 
ascended to the top of the scale. For the highest interval of 
the scale being a semitone, if the concrete ascent be continued 
with an unbroken current, into a return upon that interval, as 
the commencement of the descending scale ; and if we pause 
after this first downward step, we shall perceive an effect of 
intonation exactly resembling that which belongs to the plain- 
tive utterance of a protracted syllable of speech. 

The sentiments which are naturally expressed by the semi- 
tone are sometimes restricted to individual words ; sometimes 
they extend over phrases and sentences, and even throughout 
entire sections of discourse. These last occasions requiring the 
semitone on every syllable, necessarily produce a melody con- 
sisting of a continued succession of that interval. In the sixth 
section the Diatonic melody was represented as formed by the 
progression of pitch through the interval of a whole tone. That 
which is here spoken of being through a semitone, may be 
called the Semitonic or Chromatic melody. Like the former 
it is subdivided into the current melody, and that of the ca- 
dence. The movement of its current resolves into seven 
sorts of phrases, similar to those in the diatonic progress. But 
as the change by radical pitch in the chromatic current, is 
through the interval of a tone, only when it descends, and not 
when it ascends, as will be shown presently, the use of the 
nomenclature must be pardoned, when I call the several semi- 
tonic phrases by the terms assigned to those of the diatonic 
melody. 

The doctrine of key and of modulation is the same in the 
two melodies. A similar appropriation of phrases to the pauses 
of discourse, for continuing or suspending or closing the sense, 
is used in each ; and the same rule for varying the phrases of 
the current melody, in the production of an agreeable effect, is 
applicable to both. But as the sentiments which dictate the 
use of the semitone and its melody are always more grave or 
depressed than those associated with the diatonic, the former 
more frequently affects the phrase of the monotone. 



192 THE CHROMATIC 

In speaking of the diatonic melody I divided its constructive 
parts into the concrete pitch and the radical pitch. The same 
distinctions may be made in the progression of the chromatic 
melody. Its concrete is always essentially formed upon the 
interval of a semitone. Its radical pitch, if I have not been de- 
ceived, is conducted in the following manner. When the 
current melody descends, the radical change is downward, 
over the space of a whole tone. But when it ascends, the 
radical change is upward over the space of a semitone. This 
change of a tone in descending will be perceived on executing 
the downward ditone of a chromatic melody, and comparing 
its effect with that of the two first constituents of the triad of 
the diatonic cadence : for it will be found that if the downward 
radical pitch of a chromatic melody be followed by another 
downward radical similar to the first ; or in other words, if we 
attempt to make a downward tritone in a plaintive intonation, 
the triad of the cadence will be thereby so nearly accomplish- 
ed, that it will solicit for its consummation, only the faint 
downward vanish of that triad on its last constituent. Now 
the triad of the cadence, in its tripartite form, is constructed 
of the successive descent of whole tones. 

The following considerations lead to the conclusion that the 
radical change in the upward direction, is in some cases made 
by the step of a semitone. By intonating the scale in the man- 
ner directed at the beginning of this section, it will be per- 
ceived that after rising through the first semitone, on 'fi,' the 
next syllable ' yer' begins at the top of that preceding con- 
crete ; thus making the radical change of the ascent in this 
case, a semitone : and as every concrete of a chromatic melody 
is a semitone, it follows, by the rule of the scale, that each suc- 
cessive syllable of a chromatic progression, when the radical 
pitch rises, must be at the distance of a semitone above the pre- 
ceding. 

But it has been shown that the concrete pitch of this melody 
is, in slow utterance, generally continued into the returning 
downward vanish of the semitone. On this occasion the above 
reason for the semitonic radical change does not apply. Whe- 
ther in this case of the returning downward concrete, the ra- 
dical change upward is by the semitone or the tone, 1 am not 
prepared to decide, with that confidence which I have felt on 



MELODY OF SPEECH. 193 

other points of observation recorded in this work. On the 
whole, however, there is not much change of radical pitch in 
this melody ; since the monotone is its prevalent phrase. 

It was taught in. a previous section, that in the diatonic me- 
lody special purposes of expression call occasionally for the 
introduction of the interval of the octave, the fifth and the 
third. It will be asked, perhaps, if these intervals are ever 
found in the course of a chromatic melody : and if so, how 
they are engrafted on it. They have a place in it, both for the 
purpose of interrogation and of emphasis ; and are applied in 
the following manner. 

Since plaintiveness is the characteristic of this melody, if an 
interrogative word in the course of it, should require the rise 
of either the octave, fifth or third, it is clear that the expression 
both of the semitone, and of that higher interval, should if pos- 
sible be conjoined. But by the use of the high interrogative 
interval the plaintive expression would be lost. These two 
apparently incompatible effects therefore can be conjoined on 
one syllable, for the purpose of chromatic interrogation or 
emphasis, only by carrying the voice through the upward and 
downward semitone on the appointed syllable ; and by leading 
it afterwards in continuation from the extremity of the down- 
ward vanish, through the upward concrete of the octave or the 
fifth or the third, as the intended expression of the interroga- 
tion or emphasis may require. If the peculiar keenness and 
force of expression which was ascribed to the octave is recol- 
lected, it must at once be supposed that it is rarely found among 
the signs of semitonic interrogation : the more abated power of 
the third or fifth being commonly used for this purpose. Per- 
haps the reader may not be dissatisfied if I here think it unne- 
cessary to set forth this subject of the chromatic melody, by a 
scheme of notation. The precision I have endeavoured to give 
to the terms of the description, will I hope enable him to un- 
derstand it without delineation ; or to mark the tablature for 
himself. 

The cadence of a chromatic melody is made by a peculiar 
construction of the triad. 

The reader will find on experiment, that there is no other 
mode of reaching the satisfactory pause of discourse, on three 
distinct syllables, than that which was described in the history 
Z 



194 THE CHROMATIC 

of the diatonic cadence ; and which consists in the radical de- 
scent of whole tones, as noted in the first and second sorts of 
cadence, in the sixth section. — Consequently the chromatic 
triad must be made by a similar radical descent, since a down- 
ward triad of three semitones, would make no more than a 
tone and a half. But the concrete pitch or vanish of these 
radicals, which thus descend by a tone, is made through the 
space of a semitone; and the plaintive character of the melody 
is thus communicated to its close. 

It deserves to be remarked here, that a passage which re- 
quires the intonation of the chromatic melody, may sometimes 
be terminated by the plain diatonic triad ; whether that close 
be made by its tripartite separation, or by conjoined constitu- 
ents, as was illustrated in the history of that cadence. Indeed 
it may be further observed, that insignificant and slightly 
marked particles in a chromatic sentence, may bear a radical 
and vanishing whole tone, without deducting much from the ex- 
pressive effect of the semitone when heard on all the important 
words and long quantities of the sentence. Of the forms of the 
diatonic cadence, which I have said may be occasionally ap- 
plied to a chromatic melody, I have already spoken in the sixth 
section. I here take notice of those forms of the close which 
carry a plaintive expression. 

The chromatic cadence may be made on a single long syllable: 
or it may be allotted to two syllables : or the space of its de- 
scent may be divided between three. 

If the three constituents are joined severally to three sylla- 
bles, the close is made by taking the radicals at the interval 
of a whole tone in descent from each other ; and by giving to 
each of the constituents, except the last, the rising vanish of a 
semitone ; the last having the feeble downward vanish, such as 
belongs to the diatonic cadences. This is exemplified in the 
following notation : in which the lines and spaces still designate 
the difference of a whole tone, except in the measuring of the 
concrete issue of the points, and of the upward change of ra- 
dical pitch ; both of which must be taken as indicative of the 
space of a semitone. 

Pit — ty the sor rows of a poor old man. 



MELODY OP SPEECH. 



195 



It is true that the concrete semitonic rise, in continuation 
with a subsequent fall below the radical, may be given to the 
last constituent, and that a plaintive expression may thereby 
be communicated to it: but in this case the perception of the 
close will not be so complete as when made in the manner of 
the above notation. 

The tripartite chromatic cadence may also be made by as- 
suming the above construction, and by joining the constitu- 
ents through a downward vanish : the plaintive character still 
flowing from the semitonic rise of its two first constituents, 
thus : 




When the plaintive close is spread over two syllables, the 
first constituent rises through a concrete semitone, and the 
voice is continued from this vanish, into the last syllable, 
which ends in a feeble movement, in this manner : 



A 


poor 


old 


man. 


4 


4 


4 - 










•V 



The chromatic close may be made on a single long sylla- 
ble : but its effect is bad, and it is perhaps never used in correct 
speech, except for some special design of expression, which has 
no necessary connexion with the mere cadence. The inad- 
missible nature of this cadence arises from the use of the up- 
ward semitone, which must be heard on the first part of that 
syllable, for the purpose of giving a plaintive construction to 
the close. Now the continuation of this rising semitone into 
the downward third produces an element of expression, if I 
may so call the combination, which may indeed carry the 
power of a close : but it does at the same time, join with it an 



196 THE CHROMATIC MELODY OF SPEECH. 

intonation of affected mockery, altogether foreign to the desira- 
ble and appropriate character of the simple cadence. 

There is still another form of the Chromatic close, resem- 
bling the skipping cadence of the diatonic melody. It consists 
of a concrete semitone on the antepenult syllable, and an imme- 
diate discrete descent by radical pitch to the final constituent 
of the triad ; omitting the second altogether. It is unnecessary 
to give a diagram of this form, since it is shown by the last 
example of notation, when deprived of the concrete junction 
of the two constituents. It is rarely used as a close ; and only 
when some peculiar emphasis, as, of surprise, may happen to 
lie on the last word of the sentence. 

As in the diatonic cadence, so in the chromatic, there are 
different degrees of repose : and these depend on the construc- 
tion. That entire consummation which is demanded at the 
period of discourse, is effected by the tripartite form of the 
first of the above notations. The second which is still tripar- 
tite, but which has its constituents conjoined by the downward 
vanish, has perhaps a character of somewhat less repose than 
the first : since the radicals in this case, are less distinctly 
marked by the explosive fulness which belongs to them when 
they are not conjoined ; and it is this conspicuous display of 
the descent of the radical pitch which gives the marked effect 
of conclusion. The third construction represented above, is 
the most feeble form of the chromatic cadence ; for being made 
upon two syllables, it has less of the character which is derived 
from the change of downward radical pitch. This mode of 
cadence then falls short of the expression required for a satis- 
factory close. 

In concluding this history of the five enumerated intervals 
of pitch, and of their uses in elocution, I have only to add, that, 
as far as my observation goes, I believe the intervals of the 
Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh are used in speech for peculiarities 
of expression similar to those of the intervals which adjoin 
them, and which have been described above. The third, fifth 
and octave which are adjacent to those omitted intervals, are 
more easily recognized by the ear, not only upon the discrete 
steps of an instrumental scale, but also through the continuous 
slide, in the human voice. It is on this account 1 have limited 
the enumeration in the preceding sections, to certain five inter- 



THE DOWNWARD MOVEMENT. 197 

vals of the natural scale. I have not satisfactorily ascertained 
the properties of the remaining three, if indeed they possess 
any that are peculiar : and I have not thought the investigation 
worth further trouble. 



■ «w»»0^fr*«— 



SECTION XIX. 



Of the Downward Radical and Vanishing Movement. 



The functions of pitch hitherto described are performed 
principally by a rising progress of the concrete, and of the ra- 
dical change. 

In an early page of this essay it was shown that the voice 
may take a reverse direction ; that the radical movement, 
opening with fulness on a given place in the scale, descends 
through its destined interval, with that equable concrete struc- 
ture and diminishing force which characterizes the upward 
vanish. We must now consider the varieties of form in the 
downward concrete, the occasions of its use, and the nature 
of its expression. 

The downward progress of the voice is made through all the 
intervals named in speaking of its rise : and in like manner 
with the rise, the descending transition is both by a concrete 
movement, and by a discrete change or leap of the radical 
pitch. The effect of the descent, whether done concretely or 
by discrete skip, may be manifested, and the characteristic 
expressions of the several intervals rendered precisely cogni- 
zable, by means of the following experiments. 

Let the reader express himself familiarly on the exclamatory 
phrase, ' well done,' in the way of high astonishment : taking 
care that the first word is assumed at a high pitch ; that the last 
has an unusual prolongation of quantity ; and that the words 



198 THE DOWNWARD RADICAL 

are uttered as if they formed the close of a sentence. If the 
intonation of the word < done' be according to the manner 
here proposed, it will exemplify the Downward concrete of 
the Octave. Again — let him give the interjection, « heigh ho,' 
with that degree of emphasis which may throw these two 
words on the extremes of the compass of the natural voice. He 
will thereupon find that the transition from the elevated pitch 
on ' heigh' to the inferior place of ' ho,' will be by a dis- 
crete or skipping descent. Now this transition, when the 
intonation is pointedly marked as above directed, is made by 
the downward Radical pitch of the octave. 

The Downward Fifth, both in its concrete pitch and in its 
discrete radical change, may be made audible by employing a 
somewhat less vivid coloring of intonation than the last, on 
these same words. 

The concrete Descent of the Third may be heard by pro- 
nouncing the word i No,' as if it were the last word of a 
sentence ; observing to give it some length, and to exclude 
from the utterance every expression except the simple indica- 
tion of the cadence. The downward Radical pitch or skip of 
the third, may be exemplified by pronouncing the phrase 
' made an attack,' as if it were a full close, giving the sylla- 
bles i made an at,' in the monotone, and making the satisfac- 
tory close on 'tack.' For, in this case the syllable ' at' is 
the first constituent of the triad : and being by its short quan- 
tity incapable of a concrete descent to fill up the close, the 
voice of necessity leaps over the place of the second constituent 
and terminates the cadence on ' tack' in the proper point of 
the third. 

The effect of the Downward concrete Second or tone may be 
made familiar, by attending to the last constituent of a diatonic 
cadence, in its tripartite form. The radical change of the 
second may be heard in the descent of the constituents of the 
same cadence ; since its radicals succeed each other by the 
difference of a tone. 

The Downward concrete of the Semitone was described in 
the last section, as being plaintively obvious in the vocal transi- 
tion from the eighth to the seventh place of the scale. If it is 
true, as I have ventured to assert of the chromatic current 
melody, that its change of Radical pitch in a downward course 



AND VANISHING MOVEMENT. 199 

is like that of its cadence, a whole tone, it follows that we 
have no instances in speech, of the discrete downward pitch of 
the semitone. But I leave this for future observers. 

If the reader is by this time expert in ascending both con- 
cretely and discretely, through each of the intervals of the 
scale, he may after rising, immediately return through the 
same interval, whilst the impressions of its extremes are fresh 
on his ear ; and thus in another manner become familiar with 
the different extent of the downward movement, both in its 
concrete and discrete progress. 

I have been speaking of the downward movement when 
made on long quantities : but like the rising progress, it may 
be shown on immutable syllables: the transit through the 
given interval being rapidly performed. Yet it must be re- 
marked that when the characteristic expression of an interval 
is required on immutable syllables, the transition is generally 
made by the change of radical pitch. 

The expressive powers of the downward radical and vanish, 
will be assigned in a subsequent consideration of the particular 
intervals of the scale. As a general remark on its character, 
it may be said in contradistinction to the effect of the Third, 
Fifth, and Octave, which have an interrogative meaning, — 
that the downward progress through these divisions of the 
scale expresses a positiveness of affirmation which is directly 
the reverse of the doubt contained in a question. Some other 
inquirer may hereafter refer this expression of the downward 
concrete, to a more general class of phenomena in vocal science ; 
and thus satisfy our present ignorance of its cause. I can not 
however avoid offering here the suggestion, for I wish to be 
cautious in touching analogical argument, that the positiveness 
of character which belongs to it may arise from its conjoining 
with its emphatic import a certain degree of the final impres- 
sion of the cadence : for this seems to preclude the expectation 
of further doubt or reply, by the satisfactory repose of the 
ultimate intonation on a finished sense. In corroboration of 
this suggestion let us bring to mind that the replications of 
doubtful argument in dialogue, from the yielding of mutual 
civility between the speakers, are not marked so freely with 
complete cadences, as the termination of the sense in many 
of the phrases would otherwise bear. But we know that 



200 THE DOWNWARD MOVEMENT. 

when the assertions become authoritative from truth, or dog- 
matic from opinion, the closing intonation of the cadence is 
employed as the definite seal of self-confident affirmation. 

After all, however, the strict duty of philosophy reproves us 
for our conjectures, and allows us here only to set forth this 
new instance of the consistent ordinations of nature : for as the 
sentiment of inquiry is the direct contrary in the human mind, 
to that of assured declaration, so in the instinct of the voice, 
the very opposite movements of rise and fall, are employed for 
their respective modes of intonation. 

The downward vanish is used for the purpose of emphasis, 
as will be particularly marked in a future section. It has 
nearly an equal power of attraction over the ear, with the up- 
ward vanish. The expressions of wonder, admiration, surprise 
and exclamation, when not conjoined with an interrogative 
meaning, are generally made by a form of this element ; the 
extent of the interval beingproportional to the degree of energy 
in the sentiment. As the downward concrete is formed in the 
same manner with the rising, having, metaphorically speaking, 
but a different direction, we may ascribe the same qualities of 
construction to both. The same explosive fulness should mark 
the radical ; there should be the same equable movement in 
its descent ; the same delicate and smooth diminution and final 
vanish into silence. 

After these general remarks on the subject, we proceed to 
the history of the particular intervals of the downward move- 
ment. 



THE DOWNWARD OCTAVE. 201 



SECTION XX. 



Of the Interval of the Downward Octave. 



This interval, in addition to the expression, ascribed gen- 
erally to the downward movement, conveys in the colloquial 
uses of the voice, the vivacity of facetious surprise, as in the 
instance of the phrase ' well done,' given above. It is in this 
case the very picture of amazement, and if I may so speak, 
raises the brow and opens the eye of the voice. In its more 
dignified uses, there is the highest degree of admiration or as- 
tonishment, either alone, or united with other sentiments. 
Thus the astonishment and positiveness marked by this inter- 
val, may be coexistent with the complacent feeling of mirth 
and sociability, or with the repugnant sentiment of fear or 
contempt or hatred, or in short, with almost any state of mind 
which is not contradictory to that astonishment and positive- 
ness. For though these superadded sentiments have other 
symbols in expression, yet when they go with this high degree 
of astonishment, the downward octave is the true and only sign 
of the combination. 

But as the same interval can thus represent different senti- 
ments, it may be inquired, — whether some modification of its 
structure may not be necessary; and if so, how it is modified. 
It is modified in this manner. I shall particularly show in a 
future section, that the concrete movement, whether its direc- 
tion is upward or downward, may bear with distinguishable 
audibility, additional force on the beginning or on the middl 
or on the end of its progress through a prolonged quantity. 
The names and further uses of these three kinds of stress will 
be given hereafter. Now in the appropriation of these forms 
of the downward octave to the different sentiments which were 
said to be within its expression, I assign the simple or natural 
form of the radical and vanish to the feeling of a high degree 
of mirthful wonder. When the force is laid on the middle of its 
2A 



202 THE INTERVAL OF 

course, by a swell at that place, the expression becomes more 
repulsive with its wonder. And when force is applied to the 
lower extremity, reversing thus the natural structure of the 
radical and vanish, it increases the degree of the repulsion, and 
mingles with it some slight affection of anger and of scorn. 
The characteristic thus assigned to the octave, might at once 
assure us that it is of rare occurence. It may be found occa- 
sionally in the intensity of colloquial excitement, and in the 
fervor of the drama : but never perhaps in the course of narra- 
tive or description, since the strained energy of its expression 
must be the real or the personated pouring out of the heart. 



SECTION XXI. 
Of the Interval of the downivard Fifth. 

The expression of the last described interval is marked by 
a quaint sentiment of familiarity, or by an excessive degree of 
violence. The Fifth has in many respects a similar meaning; 
but it clothes its sentiments of smiling surprise, and of admira- 
tion whether it is passive or repelling, with greater dignity 
than the octave. This interval is often used on imperative 
phrases. Its concrete, like that of the octave, may be modified 
in meaning by the different applications of stress. 

The following derisive exclamation of Gabriel to Satan, in 
the fourth book of Paradise Lost, is properly made by the na- 
tural form of the fifth ; that is, by stress on the radical or 
opening portion of the interval, whilst the vanish dwindles 
away in its descent. 

Courageous chief! 
The first in flight from pain ! 

The syllable ' ra,' here signalized by italics, is made by the 
natural or unaltered radical and vanish of the falling fifth. 



THE DOWNWARD FIFTH. 203 

When the Queen says to Hamlet — 

If it be, [that is, if death be the common lot] 
Why seems it so particular with thee 1 

Hamlet returns — 

Seems, Madam, nay it is ! \ know not seems. 

Now ' is,' here marked in italics, when uttered with the 
downward concrete of the fifth, represents most perfectly the 
positive affirmation and surprise of the speaker, at the miscon- 
ception of his real state. But the solemn feeling of the prince, 
which rejects, with some little indignation, the profanity of the 
supposition, that there is any formal show in the deep reality 
of his grief, can not be expressed by the natural form of the 
radical and vanish. There is a light and pleasant surprise in 
this mode of the concrete which would misrepresent the senti- 
ment. But if the voice is swelled to a greater stress as it de- 
scends, the grave severity and dignified conviction of the 
speaker become at once conspicuous. The intonation of this 
line may be thus delineated : 

Seems, Ma dam, nay it is! I know not seems. 



S 



?T7 



I have in this reading set a rising third, or the most moderate 
form of interrogative expression, to the first word ; for there 
is in it a slight sentiment of inquiry. The succeeding clause, 
which contains a most positive affirmation, has the downward 
fifth ; and the whole scheme is calculated to show the opposite 
powers of expression in the rising and falling intervals. 

This is not the place to represent the notation of stress : 
therefore T have drawn the natural radical and vanish of the 
fifth. In a future section I shall show the reason, why the ra- 
dical of the downward movement is here set so far above the 
line of the current melody. 



204 THE DOWNWARD FIFTH. 

The discrete transition of the falling fifth, or the change of 
radical pitch through that interval, has somewhat of the expres- 
sion of its concrete form. It is applied on those syllables which 
will not bear a prolongation, necessary for the concrete ; and 
on the occasions of its employment, the two extremes of the 
interval are made on two different syllables. The following 
notation will exemplify the radical change or skip of the falling 
fifth: 



But Bro — tus 


says 


he 


was am — 


— biti ous. 


b£~ 


(8a 


# 


df * 


^r 


* m 










<f- 








* 



If 1 have a right conception of the manner of exhibiting the 
sentiment of this line, I would say, it requires the intonation 
of grave surprise rather than that of contemptuous contradic- 
tion, with which it is sometimes read. The craft of Antony's 
oration turns upon the excitation of odium against the conspi- 
rators, by the favorable and moving representation of Caesar's 
virtues, more than by the coloring of the crime of his assassins. 
And though in the well known burden of the speech, they are 
reported as honorable men, certainly not with the least good 
will in the title, still, the vocal curl of sneer, which we some- 
times hear on this phrase, is inappropriate and affected. At 
least this may be said of it, as it occurs in more than the first 
half of the speech : and when at least the speaker is encouraged 
to bolder sentiments and declarations, they are those of quick 
and keen revenge ; which wastes no time in the winding cir- 
cumflex of contemptuous intonation. But whatever may be 
said of other parts of the speech, 1 must claim for the line 
above noted, the mode of intonation which expresses the sur- 
prise of the speaker, that any one could so violently reverse 
the fair conclusions from motives and actions: leaving to the 
audience to infer, from this surprise, that some other than or- 
dinary or honest reasons must have influenced Brutus to make 
the ascription of ambition to Caesar. If the notation of the 
passage be made in the common diatonic melody, with the dif- 
ference of a tone only in the changes of its radical pitch, it will 



THE DOWNWARD THIRD. 205 

become a mere report of a saying of Brutus; without the least 
show of the sentiment I have ascribed to it, and endeavoured 
to justify. 






SECTION XX11. 



Of the Interval of the Downward Third. 



In general description, this interval may be said to carry the 
moderated expression of the fifth. 

The dignity of vocal character, like that of personal gesture, 
consists not only in the abatement of force, and in the slowness 
of time, but in a limitation within the widest range of move- 
ment : And as there is more composure and solemnity in that 
form of interrogation which is made by the rise of the third ; 
so the expression of surprise and admiration which belongs to 
the downward intervals, is in its most subdued and dignified 
degree, when heard on the falling third. 

One of the remarkable functions of the concrete descent of 
the third, is that which is performed on a syllable of long quan- 
tity, when found at the end of a sentence, or of a clause of dis- 
course which contains a complete sense, but which may not be 
marked by the grammatical notation of a period. This use of 
the third was noticed and illustrated in the sixth section, and 
there described as constituting the feeble cadence. Its charac- 
ter has this double bearing : it seems to indicate that the sense 
may be taken as terminated at its place ; and yet it does not 
altogether destroy the expectation of a further continuation. 
No one on hearing this cadence, would suppose the discourse 
to be finished. 

As the rising third is sometimes used for emphasis alone, in- 



206 



THE INTERVAL OF 



pendently of its interrogative import ; so the falling third may 
be employed, as the means of emphatic distinction, merely for 
the purpose of varying the effect of intonation. This may be 
illustrated by the following notation : 



None 


but 


the 


brave ! 


None 


but 


the brave ! 




*f 


if 




^~ 


4 


sf A 




w 


V 


4 




* \ 



None but 



the 



brave 



de- 



the 



^=^ 



fair. 



3 



-^&- 



There is certainly no inquiry conveyed by these words : yet 
1 have set the rising interval of the third on one of the emphatic 
syllables. But there is a feeling of admiration in the case which 
may be expressed by the upward third, as was said in speaking 
of that interval. And it will be shown hereafter that all em- 
phatic words, whatever other sentiments they may happen to 
comprehend, do carry with them something of the admirable. 
On this ground then all the emphatic repetitions of the word 
brave might receive the same interval. 1 have varied the in- 
tonation by setting the plain rising tone to the first brave, the 
downward third to the second, and the rising third to the last : 
and this appropriation together with the falling third on the 
word none, does satisfy my ear by its agreeable effect. Speak- 
ers who are not aware of the efficacy of intonation, or who can 
not skilfully command it, endeavour to attain a desirable variety 
in this case, by the transfer of emphasis. They apply it in 
the repetition, successively to none and but and brave. If I 
here properly understand the poet, and have any discrimina- 
tion of the uses of the voice, I must say that this mode of em- 
phasis should not be employed, even though there might be no 
other means for variety. The contradistinction made by the 
stress on the several words implies a different meaning in each 
case. But reiteration is the rhetorical sign of fulness of feeling, 
or of its rising energy; and never of a change of sense. The 
attempt therefore to vary the meaning of this phrase, which 



THE DOWNWARD THIRD. 207 

must be identical under any change of emphasis, offends against 
both dignity and truth, and betrays a limited power over all 
the means of vocal variety. The full command of quantity, 
and of the numerous elements of expression, renders it easy 
to relieve the ear from monotony on this passage, without chang- 
ing or distorting the sense of the author : which, if the compo- 
sition was a prompting of poetry, and not a mere trick of em- 
phasis, must have been intended to be identical in all the 
repetitions. 

In the above notation, I have shown nothing of the uses to 
be made of lime and force : though both are available in this 
case, and give additional means for variety. 

The downward radical pitch of the third which consists of a 
skip of three degrees, is employed for the purpose of emphasis : 
particularly where this is necessary on immutable syllables. 
But there is a special use of this element, for effecting a full con- 
summation of the close of melody, which mustnot beoverlooked. 
In speaking of the cadence I remarked that its different species 
denote various degrees of repose : the tripartite form, in which 
each of the radicals with its downward vanish, is heard dis- 
tinctly in successive descent, being the most marked indication 
of the period. It is possible, however, to increase the char- 
acteristic of this form by additional means. A gradual descent 
of the current melody as it approaches the cadence, is some- 
times employed with that intent ; and properly. But another 
more elegant and impressive mode is to apply the downward 
radical change of the third, on some syllable preceding the 
close, as in the following notation. 



Through 


E den 


took 


their 


sol i ta ry way. 


4 


4 4 




80 


^4 * m 


9 4 *** 



If this line be read with the diatonic radical succession 
throughout, the cadence, by its tripartite form will indeed 
mark a completion of the sense ; but the application of a down- 
ward radical change of the third on took, gives that warning 
of the period, or that note of preparation, which produces the 
utterly reposing termination which must be felt by the speaker 



208 THE DOWNWARD THIRD. 

and is required by the audience, on this last line of Paradise 
Lost. 

Other cadences denote, in various degrees, the conclusion of 
a particular sense. This, Prepared cadence, if I may so call it, 
implies that the subject itself, of a paragraph, a chapter, or a 
volume, is finished. 

Let us here take a view of the various kinds of cadence. 

In the sixth section, five modes of the diatonic cadence were 
enumerated. Now the Prepared form just described may 
be united with each of these, thus constituting ten distinct spe- 
cies : to say nothing of the chromatic. These should be se- 
verally employed by speakers, not only to give just expression 
to the close ; but likewise for the purpose of variety. If it 
would add precision to this subject, some of the forms of the 
cadence might be specifically named. 

The first form described in the sixth section may be called 
the rising triad, or tripartite form : because it consists of three 
constituents ; and two of them have the upward vanish. 

The second form may be called the falling triad. 

The third may be called the first Duad : because it has but 
two constituents ; the first embracing the space of two tones. 

The fourth may be called the second Duad : because with 
only two constituents, the last occupies the place of two tones. 

The fifth may be called the Monad form of the cadence, 
from the space of the three constituents being executed on one 
syllable. 

1 do not expect the reader to be able at once to distinguish 
all these modes of the cadence : nor indeed is it necessary. 
Some of them, however, can not be mistaken. The prepared 
form when set before the falling triad, is the most complete 
close ; and this is clearly separable from the monad, or what 
1 call the feeble cadence, which gives the faintest indication of 
the period. I believe no ear will confound the effect of either 
of the triads, the monad and the prepared cadence. 

1 have little to say of the downward minor third ; its ex- 
pression, like that of its upward concrete movement, is plain- 
tive ; but as well as my ear informs me, it is not used for those 
purposes ascribed to the major third. 



THE DOWNWARD SECOND AND SEMITONE. 209 



SECTION XXIII. 



Of the Downward Second and Semitone. 



I have clased these intervals under the same head, on ac- 
count of the limited extent of the remarks here made upon them. 
They have a high importance in speech, but it is principally 
as appendages to the rising movement of the same intervals, 
in that form of intonation which has been called the circum- 
flex, but which, in the next section will be named the Wave. 

The most remarkable use of the downward second or tone, 
is as the last constituent of the cadence, either in the diatonic 
or chromatic form. It may be applied also to the two other 
constituents : and is used occasionally in plain melody, for 
the purpose of varying the impression of the rising second, 
which, in the history of that melody, was given as its charac- 
teristic. 

The downward semitone is sometimes employed for the 
purpose of variet) r , in the current of a chromatic melody. It 
may also be applied to the first and second constituents of a 
chromatic cadence ; the radical descent of this cadence being 
by the skip of a whole tone ; and the downward vanish on the 
last or closing concrete, being through the space of that same 
second or tone. 

In terminating the history of the downward intervals, I can 
not avoid pausing a moment in admiration at the simple and 
well adjusted means which nature has appointed for the multi- 
plied combinations and apparent complexity of vocal expression. 
Nor can I look on these available means without taking in the 
prospect of that art which, in no distant day, must grow out 
of the development of the true elements of elocution. I have 
not extended the analysis, nor made applications of the princi- 
ples founded thereon, to the entire detail of the subject ; being 
contented to encourage others towards a work of greater range 
and precision by setting before them what is here accomplished 
2B 



210 THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 

in a case of supposed impossibility. For I am persuaded there 
will be some future and beautiful finishing of that system for 
the ordering of speech, which I plainly see is here but just 
begun. He who chooses to follow the path thus opened, may 
fortunately find himself among the first comers to an ungather- 
ed field : a field which has been unvisited and unclaimed only 
because it was believed by the indolent, to be barren or inac- 
cessible ; or because the eye of irresolute inquiry has been 
turned from the leading star of observation, by the vain attrac- 
tions of theory, and the delusive authority of names. For 
what does the term, genius for discovery mean, besides — the art 
of forgetting ourselves and others, and looking exclusively and 
perseveringly at our work? Too many, alas! imagine they are 
doing all these things, when they are only thinking of notoriety, 
and hunting after the favorable opinion of mankind. 



— »k*V© <A «*< — 



SECTION XXIV. 
Of the Wave of the Voice. 



Bv the Wave of the voice, I mean the junction of the up- 
ward and downward movement in continuous utterance. This 
function was known to the Greeks : and is noticed by modern 
writers, particularly by Mr. Steele and Mr. Walker, under 
the term, Circumflex accent. 

As the wave is composed of the two opposite courses of 
pitch, each of which has its different intervals, and as the 
direction of the outset of the voice and the number of its 
flexures may vary, the reader must expect to find in the history 
of this symbol, numerous and somewhat complicated subdivi- 
sions. 



THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 211 

The Wave is a very frequent element in expression, and 
performs high offices in speech. It therefore becomes him 
who would not be a pretender in elocution, and who is willing 
to turn from the falterings of spontaneous effort in art, to the 
fulness, the purpose, and the precision of scientific order and 
rule — it becomes him not to overlook the investigation of the 
wave. 

In order to represent this matter clearly, let the several up- 
ward and downward movements, which by their continuity 
make the wave, be called the Constituents. It is plain then 
that the constituents may be, octaves or fifths or thirds or se- 
conds or semitones. 

Further, as the upward and downward concrete may be of 
various dimensions, it follows that the wave may be constituted 
of an upward and downward movement of the same interval; 
or these constituents may differ from each other in extent. 
Thus the wave may consist of a rising and a falling third con- 
joined, or of a rising second continued into a falling third. 
These varied modes of construction give occasion for a distinc- 
tion of the wave into Equal and Unequal. 

It will be found on experiment, that the wave with its first 
constituent ascending, and its second descending, has a different 
character of expression from one, which by first descending, 
has a reverse course of its constituents. Of the variations thus 
produced, let the former case be called the Direct wave, and the 
latter the Inverted. 

I have thus represented the wave as consisting of two con- 
stituents only; but it may have three or even more; for the 
direct may have a subsequent rising interval, and the inverted, 
a subsequent falling one. If there are but two constituents it 
may be called the Single, and if three, the Double wave. 
When there are more than three, as may happen in some cases 
to be pointed out presently, it may be called the Continued 
wave. 

By reflection on these distinctions, we may discover their 
reciprocal relations. Thus the equal and the unequal wave may 
each be direct and inverted — single and double. The double- 
unequal may have its three constituents dissimilar, or two of 
them — the first and second, or second and third, or first and 



212 THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 

third may be alike. The direct and inverted, may each be 
equal or unequal — single or double. And the single and dou- 
ble may each be equal or unequal, — direct or inverted. 

But perhaps these relationships will be better understood 
from the tabular view in the next page. 



THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 



213 



Equal, 



■a 

t 






Single, f« 



I 

c 
o 
u 

bo 

c 

1 



o 

& 

bo 

c 

i 

S3 



Direct, 



"3 ™ 

£ fOctave, 

2 %> | Fifth, 

•S;|-< Third, 

g G | Second, 

£ LSemitone, 



2 fOctave, 
fete Fifth, 
Inverted, g ^ Third, 



Double, 



"3 

<u 
C 
3 



Unequal, |< 



bo 



Double, 



Direct, 



•gtg Second, 
gj LSemitone, 



fOctave, 
Fifth, 
Third, 
Second, 

^Semitone, 



t fOctave, 
S bo Fifth, 





bO 


,e 


.5 ■< 








"aa 


+J 




o: 


E 


.a 





I 



r 



Single, 



o 

& 
■*^ 

bo 

a 

a! 

S3 



bo 
c 



Direct, 



> fOctave, 

S si Fifth, 
,S-|^ Third, 
« 5 Second, 
g LSemitone, 



"3 fOctave, 
£ bo Fifth, 
Inverted, %■£< Third, 
'.£{{3 Second, 
.§ LSemitone, 



fOctave, 
bilFif 



. bo I Fifth, 
Direct, .5 .5 ^ Third, 
"g'B I Second, 
g LSemitone, 

> . fOctave, 
2 g 3 Fifth, 
Inverted,.S^^ Third, 
«*" j Second, 
'£ LSemitone, 



>g 

3 

■3 



Inverted,.E|KThird, 
■g3 I Second, 
gj LSemitone, 






214 THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 

In the preceding table, I have marked only the first consti- 
tuent of the unequal wave. I therefore subjoin a tabular scheme 
of the second and third constituents of this wave, in its 
single and its double forms. I beg the reader to take this de- 
lineation as the history of what is performed by the voice, in 
the multiplicity of its combinations ; not as the record of a 
point of any practical utility. 

In thus penetrating the recesses of nature, 1 must be allowed 
to describe her most minute phenomena, however presently 
useless it may be. I do assert then, that nearly all of the con- 
ditions here noticed, may be made designedly by a skilful use 
of intonation ; and they are perpetually made in daily discourse, 
by the instinctive efforts of speech. But the expression of the 
unequal wave, as far as I can perceive, is limited to a few sen- 
timents : most of the varieties here given, being only permu- 
tations of constituents, answering the same purpose. Whether 
these symbols, which are not specially significant with us, have 
ever among nations been made the signs of ideas or feelings, 
is yet to be told. We have heard, but the account is altogether 
vague, that the Chinese vary the meaning of the same ele- 
mental or syllabic sound, eight or ten times, by the changes of 
intonation. Do they draw upon any of the forms of the fol- 
lowing table of the unequal wave ? 



THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 



215 



The first constit- 
uent being 



The second con- 
stituent being 
either a 



The third con- 
stituent being 
either a 



Single. 



-31 

a 



Direct 

or 

Inverted, 



I 



An octave, 



1 
Direct I 
or >A Fifth, 
Inverted, J 

Direct | 
or )-A Third, 
Inverted, j 

Direct | 
or SA. Second. 
Inverted, 



Direct ! 
or rASemitone. 
^Inverted, J 



I Semitone 
J second 
j third or 
I fifth. 

[ Semitone 
J second 
) third or 
i octave. 

Semitone 
J second 
| fifth or 
I octave. 

I Semitone 
J third 
fifth or 
octave. 

("Second 
J third 
] fifth or 

Loctave. 



Double. 4 



I 



Semitone 
I Second 
{ Third 
I Fifth or 
(^Octave. 
("Semitone 

second 
<[ third 

fifth or 
Loctave. 
("Semitone 
I Second 
<( Third 
I Fifth or 
t_Octave. 
("Semitone 

Second 
■{ Third 

Fifth or 
\_Octave. 
(""Semitone 
I Second 
!-ASemitone.< Third 
[Fifth or 
\_Octave. 



Direct j 
or >An Octave 
Inverted, 



Dii'ect 
or ±A Fifth. 
Inverted, 



Direct I 
or >A Third. 
Inverted, [ 



Direct 

or ^-A Second 
Inverted, 



Direct 

or 

Inverted, 



— \ 



("Sem. 

I Sem. 
-^ Sem. 

f Sem. 

I Sem. 

rSem. 

I Sem. 
J Sem. 

I Sem. 

\_Sem. 

("Sem. 

I Sem. 
J Sem. 

j Sem. 

V_Sem. 

f~Sem. 

I Sem. 
< Sem. 

j Sem. 

l_Sem. 

("2d 3d 

| Sem. 
■4. Sem. 

I Sem. 

Lsem. 



2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d or 5th. 
2d 3d 5lh or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d or 8th. 
2d3d5thor8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 
2d 3d 5th or 8th. 



216 THE WAVE OF THE VOICE. 

From a comprehensive view of this table it will be manifest 
to the reader, that there are several different modes in which 
these functions may be arranged. Any of the distinctions given 
above might be taken as the generic heads of the wave ; and 
the others might be included as species. Thus we might take 
the five intervals for the heads of as many sections. Then un- 
der each, for instance the octave, we might consider, — first, 
the equal form of this interval, and its combination with other 
intervals into the unequal form; secondly its direct and inverted, 
and thirdly its single and double forms. Or we might take the 
distinction into single and double for the two generic heads, 
and under each of these, enumerate the species, as being equal 
or unequal, direct or inverted : and so of any other assumed 
order of these distinctions. 

I shall, according to the arrangement in the table, divide the 
phenomena of the wave into two great classes, the Equal and 
the Unequal ; and subdividing each of these by the five inter- 
vals of the scale, I shall under the heads of these intervals, 
consider the direct and the inverted, the single and the double 
forms of this element. 

The pains which have been taken to define the technical 
terms of this essay, and the many illustrations which have 
been given, must have rendered the nomenclature and picture 
of the scale quite familiar to those who really desire to learn. 
The description may therefore be so easily understood, that it 
is unnecessary to give a notation of the wave. The reader 
may mark it for himself, and apply it to those syllables that 
convey the sentiments which will be hereafter assigned to its 
different forms. 1 shall give some examples of its use in a fu- 
ture section on emphasis. 



THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE OCTAVE. 217 



SECTION XXV. 



Of the Equal Wave, of the Octave. 



By the designating term of this section is meant the continu- 
ous movement of the voice, in the succession of its upward and 
downward direction, through the interval here named. It may 
be either single, consisting of two constituents ; or double, 
consisting of three : though this double form is scarcely used. 
It may also be differently constructed, by the first constituent 
ascending, and the second descending, which was called the 
direct wave ; and by the reverse order of movement, which 
was called the inverted wave. 

In order to understand the nature of the expression of the 
wave, let us recollect that this element is compounded of a 
rising and a falling interval, the respective expressions of 
which have already been described. Now it will be found 
that the wave generally partakes of the powers of its constitu- 
ents ; and further, that by its continuous flexure it enables the 
voice to carry on a long quantity without the risk of falling 
into the intonation of song. 

It is proper to state in this place that the wave in all its 
forms, is modified by the application of force upon different 
parts of its course. I shall particularly speak hereafter of the 
variation of the power of the concrete by stress. I only re- 
mark at present, that it may be applied at the beginning or the 
end of the line of the wave, or at the place of junction of its 
constituents ; and that the addition of force to its termination 
gives to the several species of the equal wave, a coloring of 
temper and of scorn, which they do not possess in the natural 
or dwindling form of the concrete. 

The equal wave of the octave in its single form is not used, 
as far as I know, except for common colloquial mockery. In 
its double form it has the same expression, under a more con- 
tinued quantity. If any distinction may be made between its 
2 C 



218 THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE FIFTH. 

direct and inverted forms, the latter from its ending in an up- 
ward concrete carries the power of interrogation : whilst the 
former, from its downward final movement, has the positiveness 
which was ascribed to the falling intervals when uncompound- 
ed. If the direct and inverted wave of the octave be double, 
the rule on this point will be reversed ; for the direct will 
then end with the rising movement. 

On the whole, this element, in all its ways, belongs more to 
the mere history of speech than to its elegancies ; and may 
rather, in point of use and expression, be classed among vulgar 
mouthings. 



SECTION XXVI. 
Of the Equal Wave of the Fifth. 



I have said enough of the nature of the wave and of inter- 
vals, to make it unnecessary to define this element. Its nomen- 
clature alone is sufficiently descriptive of its structure. Nor 
need 1 say particularly of this nor indeed of the succeeding 
sectional heads of the wave, in what manner their single and 
double, their direct and inverted forms are made. 

The equal wave of the fifth in each of its modes is used as one 
of the means of emphatic distinction ; and has therein an ex- 
pression varying with its form. The equal single direct wave 
of the fifth consists of an ascending and descending concrete, 
which have in their separated state, respectively, the sentiment 
of interrogation and surprise. But the conjunction of the 
opposite movements of those concretes, takes from the ascend- 
ing interval, its indication of a question, and leaves the impres- 
siveness of surprise or admiration on the syllable to which it 
is applied. But there is another effect produced besides this 



THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE FIFTH. 219 

annulling of interrogation. We have "already learned that 
there is some difference between the expression of the rising 
and the falling concrete. The former is more cheerful and 
animated in its cast, the latter more deliberate and grave. 
Now if the discourse in which an impressive intonation of the 
fifth is to be used, is of a dignified character, that impressive 
intonation is given to the emphatic syllable by a continuation 
of the upward into the downward flow of this interval, in the 
form of its direct wave. But further, this wave is used instead 
of the separate rise or fall of its interval, for the purpose of giv- 
ing more quantity to the syllable which bears it. I alluded to 
the emphasis of the simple fifth, in the fourteenth section, with- 
out a special reference to time : but if the sentiment of the 
phrase is such as to require an unusually long quantity, this 
wave or continuous downward turn of the fifth, takes the place 
of that simple ascending interval, which, in unskilful intona- 
tion, might be liable to pass into song. 

The inverted wave of the fifth has the expression of surprised 
interrogation, arising out of the termination of its last consti- 
tuent in the upward vanish of an interrogative interval. 

There is not much difference between the expression of the 
single and the double wave of the fifth, except in the change of 
structure produced by the addition of a third constituent. The 
double-direct here assumes an interrogative expression, from 
the vanishing rise of its last constituent; and the double-invert- 
ed has the meaning of surprise from its downward termination. 
Perhaps there is a little scorn conveyed by the double forms of 
the equal wave of the fifth. This is certainly the case when 
the last constituent receives greater stress than the others. On 
the whole, however, this double form is not very frequently 
used as a symbol of expression. 



220 THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE THIRD. 



SECTION XXVII. 



Of the Equal Wave of the Third. 



This wave, as regards its degree of expression, bears such 
a relation to that of the last section, as the simple rise of the 
third bears to the simple rise of the fifth. 

In all its forms, whether single or double, direct or inverted, 
the expression resembles respectively the different species of 
the equal wave of the fifth. The third, however, has in its 
several forms, a moderated degree of the characteristic expres- 
sion of the similar forms of the fifth. From its reduced degree, 
it is of more frequent occurrence as the means of emphasis in 
unimpassioned utterance, than the fifth or the octave, which 
belong especially to the spirit of colloquial dialogue, and to the 
forceful emphasis of the drama. It also serves, like the other 
intervals of the wave, to spread out the quantity of syllables in 
deliberate and dignified discourse. 

The equal wave of the minor third, by the duplication of the 
single interval enhances its plaintive expression. It may be 
occasionally used as a mode of emphasis in the chromatic me- 
lody, but its more common employment is for enforcing the 
effect of crying. The expression of the inverted wave of this 
interval, does not much differ from that of its direct form. 



THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE SECOND. 221 



SECTION XXVIII. 
Of the Equal Wave of the Second. 

We come now to consider the most frequent and one of the 
most important forms of the wave. 

In speaking of the expressive power of melody in the tenth 
section, it was said that the predominance of the phrase of the 
monotone was instrumental in the expression of dignity and 
solemnity : and the first few lines of the second book of Mil- 
ton, were noted, in illustration of this principle. I must now 
add that a long quantity, on the accented and emphatic sylla- 
bles, is an essential condition in the accomplishment of that 
dignity of expression. But it is necessary, for the full perfec- 
tion of this character, that a certain mode of intonation should 
be set upon these long quantities ; and the requisite mode is 
that of the Equal wave of the second, either in its single or 
double, its direct or inverted form. 

The diatonic melody was described as if the vanish of every 
syllable is upward, whatever the character of the plain dis- 
course may be. It has since been shown that the downward 
vanish of a second is occasionally introduced with a view to vary 
the current. The difficulty of making a perspicuous arrange- 
ment in a subject altogether new, and of giving a full description 
of parts, which are elementary and closely related, but which 
must be successively explained, has obliged me to proceed in 
that way of gradual and partial development, of frequent re- 
consideration, and of addition, which distinguishes the de- 
scriptive method of this essay. Consistently with this chosen 
order, I have now to add that the rising movement of the 
voice whatever be the interval, (except the semitone,) has more 
gayety of expression than the downward progress. Hence 
discourse of an easy and sprightly character, of quick time, and 
of short quantity, is generally carried on with the rising vanish 
of the employed interval ; as may be seen in foregoing repre- 
sentations of the diatonic melody. But if the discourse should 



222 THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE SECOND. 

be of a grave cast, and necessarily call for long quantities, as 
indeed happens in some of the examples which .we have noted 
merely with the rise, then the wave of the second is to be used. 
For the subsequent descent of the interval, forming thus the 
direct wave, takes off the light and familiar expression which 
belongs to the simple rise of the second : whilst the length of 
the quantity being consumed by the line of contrary flexures, 
the voice is still kept within the rule of the equable intonation 
of speech. 

What is here said of the use of the direct wave of the second, 
in adding dignity and solemnity to a diatonic melody, is also true 
of the inverted wave. For if the reader be able to make 
the rise and continued fall through a tone, or reversely the fall 
and the rise, on any chosen literal element or word, he will ob- 
serve a difference in the effect. But each case will be equally 
destitute of that striking intonation, which belongs to the wider 
intervals, whether upward or downward, and which would be 
incompatible with the avowed character of the diatonic pro- 
gress ; except for the occasional purpose of emphasis. But 
these two contrary forms of the wave of the second, without 
adding any high coloring to the melody, serve to give variety 
to the intonation of solemn discourse. 

1 am not aware that the double form of the equal wave of the 
second has any peculiar expression or power beyond that of its 
single form, except in extending the quantity of syllables. 
Indeed, the unusual protraction of quantity in the diatonic me- 
lody, instinctively produces the double form of the wave ; 
since the voice may take this serpentine line, through the se- 
cond, without producing any unpleasant snarl, similar to the 
double wave on some of the higher intervals. 

I spoke above, of a Continued form of the wave, or a progress 
of the line of contrary flexures beyond the term of three con- 
stituents. It is upon the time of an equal wave of the second 
in a diatonic melody, that this extension is most conspicuous 
and useful ; if indeed it is in any other case admissible. For 
should some extraordinary expression of solemnity upon 
an indefinite syllable, require an unusually protracted quan- 
tity ; and should the time of the syllable not be exhausted, 
when the voice has passed through the three constituents of the 
double wave, it must necessarily be carried on in the note of 



THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE SECOND. 223 

song, or it must continue in the flexures of the wave. If it take 
the course of the flexures, the bad effect of the former case will 
be avoided : nor will this multiplied repetition of the rise and 
fall, through this small interval of a tone, produce any positive 
or unpleasant impression. 

I have ascribed an importance to the subject of this section, 
because it opens the way to one of the most useful principles in 
the art of reading well. I have all along kept in view, a dis- 
tinction between the plain melody formed by the rise or fall of 
the voice through the interval of a tone, and a melody produced 
by the use of other intervals which endow the utterance with 
what was distinctively called Expression. There are very few 
readers able to execute this plain melody, in the beautiful sim- 
plicity of its diatonic construction. Some give constantly the 
rise of a third, or a semitone : or mark every emphatic syl- 
lable with one of the forms of the wave. Perhaps these laults 
arise from an attempt to give a greater degree of dignified ex- 
pression or of variety to the simple melody, than an unprac- 
tised reader is able to accomplish by the management of the 
second alone : and in this attempt, some of the above mentioned 
elements of intonation are fallen upon, which produces a disgust- 
ing monotony. For the impressiveness of these higher inter- 
vals leaves such deep tracks upon the ear, that, when unduly em- 
ployed, their identity becomes conspicuous and offensive. 
Whereas the simple interval of the second, like the smaller 
particles of speech, may be frequently repeated without pro- 
ducing a marked or tiresome impression : and the several forms 
of the equal wave of this interval throw suflicient variety into 
the diatonic melody, without destroying its characteristic 
plainness. They give time and dignity, whilst the simple rise 
belongs to a shorter quantity, and to a gayer kind of expres- 
sion. 

No one, who has not made an analysis of this subject, or has 
not had its peculiar effect distinctly pointed out, can be aware 
of the unpretending force, diversified succession, and severe 
simplicity of the diatonic melody, when conducted on the prin- 
ciples of the radical change formerly laid down ; and varied by 
the appropriate disposition of the single rise and fall, the direct 
and inverted wave, and certain modes of stress to be described 
in a future section. Upon the plain level of this melody, the 



224 THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE SEMITONE. 

occasional expression of the higher elements comes with all 
the power which variety of impulse, and measureable contrast 
must necessarily produce. Whereas he who is constantly deal- 
ing out his semitones, thirds, fifths, and wider waves, allows 
no repose to the ear ; and when the real occasions for their ap- 
plication occur, the sensibility to their contemplated influence 
is exhausted. 



SECTION XXIX. 

Of the Equal Wave of the Semitone. 



The chromatic melody was formerly described as consisting 
of the repetition of the radical and vanish of the semitone. But 
it was even then stated, that there may be a conjunction of the 
rising and the falling interval, for the purpose of giving a more 
remarkable impression of the plaintiveness of this symbol, and 
for adding length to the quantity of syllables. In the varieties 
of its construction, the semitonic is like the other species of the 
wave. Its direct, inverted, and double forms carry greater 
dignity and feeling than the simple rise ; and at the same time 
furnish means for diversifying the current of the melody. 

The mingling of the reverse forms of the wave, for this last 
purpose, is peculiarly necessary in the chromatic species ; for 
the continued repetition of an impressive interval, and the pre- 
dominance of the phrase of the monotone make it desirable to 
vary as much as possible the character of the wave, without 
destroying the essential nature of its plaintive constituent. Now 
this is effected, in a degree, by the above named appropriate 
disposition of the direct and inverted wave of the semitone. 
For these contrary movements have a difference of character 
which may be perceived by comparative trials ; and a delicate 
and critical ear will be struck with the effect of a well ordered 



THE EQUAL WAVE OF THE SEMITONE. 225 

variety of these elements, even though it might not be able to 
point out its causes, nor devise or repeat its approved arrange- 
ment. 

It may be said on the subject of this and the preceding sec- 
tion, that whenever a good reader extends at will, the quantity 
of his syllables, and surely no one can read well without the 
faculty of doing this, he does instinctively give the intonation 
of these waves, in all deliberate and solemn utterance : whilst 
on the other hand, his voice assumes the simple rise and fall of 
these intervals, without the continuous flexure, in delivering 
those lighter and more energetic sentiments which naturally 
suggest a shorter time of syllables, and a more rapid pronunci- 
ation of discourse. 

If such are the spontaneous and satisfactory efforts of the 
voice, it may be asked, why we should labour so deeply in an 
analysis, which, when compounded again into practice, will no 
more than meet the fulfilment of natural endeavor. I have said 
these points of intonation are accomplished by a good reader ; 
one in whom nature has established that admirable conformity 
between the spirit which identifies itself with the thoughts and 
feelings of an author, and the organ which executes the audible 
picture of its sympathies : by one, who, when he feels the un- 
easiness of error, will give even painful industry for its correc- 
tion ; and who, in his self-directed labours, is unconsciously fol- 
lowing the order, and effecting much of the purpose of scientific 
analysis and rule. 

But how shall he find out or preserve his way, who has not 
this native grace of improvement ; who searches for right, 
without knowing what is wrong ; and who copies both the 
faults and merits of an individual example, instead of reaching 
forth, under the direction of well devised precept, to gather ex- 
cellence by discriminative selection. It is to such a person 
that a development of the accidents of speech becomes indis- 
pensable. To him the connexions of system, the precision of 
definition, and the fulness of history afford those aids, which 
the keen economy of observation, and the winged thrift of 
genius may not require. 

2D 



226 THE WAVE OF UNEQUAL INTERVALS. 

SECTION XXX. 
Of the Wave of Unequal Intervals, 

By the term here employed I mean to denote that element 
of expression, which consists of lines of contrary flexure, but 
which is compounded of different intervals. Thus, if the voice 
rises through a second, and then in continuation falls through 
a third ; or if it falls through a given interval and rises through 
a different one, it is called the Unequal Wave. 

It will at once be perceived that there is a direct and an in- 
verted, a single and a double form of this element : and that 
the possible combinations of its constituents are so various, that 
the complex enumeration of them would be altogether useless, 
except the expression of each of their permutations could be 
pointed out. But 1 am not aware that the varieties of expres- 
sion bear the least proportion in number to the multiplied 
species of this symbol. It embraces indeed wonder, positive- 
ness and interrogation, in different degrees, according to the 
extent of the interval and the direction of its last constituent. 
I am not however able to assign to the unequal wave, any 
general characteristic of expression, except that of strongly 
marked scorn, and other feelings of a like nature and force. 
These sentiments, as formerly remarked, are in a slight degree 
conveyed by the curling of the equal wave, and even by the 
simple rising and falling fifth and octave, when there is 
much stress, or an aspiration laid upon their vanishing ex- 
tremes. But the most striking sign of contempt consists in a 
wide variation of the constituent intervals of the wave ; es- 
pecially if the wave is double, with the intonation strongly 
aspirated, or with a guttural energy on its final concrete. 

This wav« of unequal intervals is found in the representation 
of the higher passions of the drama, and in the peevishness and 
colloquial cant of common life: but it should be rarely used in 
that moderate temper which belongs to the greater part of 
written discourse. It has a vulgar earnestness and a quaint 



THE WAVE OF UNEQUAL INTERVALS. 227 

familiarity which render it adverse to a grave or graceful 
design of speech. 

If the expression of scorn is required in a current melody of 
dignified or solemn utterance, it is, when under the direction 
of feeling and taste, generally made by the proper application 
of stress and aspiration to the simple rise or fall of the third or 
fifth, which conveys a more moderate degree of this sentiment; 
at furthest, in such a case, the expression is not carried beyond 
the aspirated structure of the single-equal wave. 

There is a peculiar use of the unequal wave, described under 
the head of Chromatic melody, which forms an exception to 
the above attribution of the sentiment of scorn to this symbol. 
I allude to its employment, for the purpose of chromatic inter- 
rogation. For in this case it is necessary to give, on the same 
syllable, an intonation both of plaintiveness and of the ques- 
tion ; and this grafting can be accomplished, only by subjoin- 
ing to the equal direct wave of the semitone, or to the first 
constituent of its inverted form, the rise of the third, or fifth 
or octave. But it is proper to remark here, that this, and other 
modes of the unequal wave, cease to be expressive of scorn, 
only by withholding the aspiration from them, and by avoid- 
ing a strong guttural stress on its last constituent. 

There is likewise a form of the unequal wave, by which the 
cadence of a chromatic melody is made on one syllable : for 
in this case the voice rises through the interval of a semitone, 
and then in continuation descends concretely a third for the 
close. And it may be recollected that I said, this mode of in- 
tonation was not to be used, on account of its peculiar expres- 
sion being unsuitable to the general character of repose which 
belongs to the cadence. From the nature of its constituents, 
it bears the sentiment of plaintive or querulous surprise, and 
consequently is admissible on the last long quantity of a chro- 
matic sentence, only when this sentiment is set forth in its 
final word. If however the element be increased in force to- 
wards its close, and if it be aspirated, it will bear more con- 
spicuously the expression of querulous scorn. 

The wave, under every mode, requires more than any other 
element, the use of syllables of indefinite time. We may 
therefore comprehend why long quantities are necessary for 
reaching the full dignity of utterance, since these alone are 



228 THE WAVE OF UNEQUAL INTERVALS. 

capable of bearing the wave : the dignity of expression being 
the result of the junction of the higher intervals, on emphatic 
words, and of the wave of the second or the semitone, in the 
continued, current of the diatonic or chromatic melody. With 
the light of this principle, the reader may see on what defensi- 
ble ground I formerly asserted, that the majestic movement of 
the first line of the second book of Paradise Lost, was shocked 
by the occurrence of the word < state/ 

High on a throne of Royal state which far — 

All the accented syllables of this line except ' state' are of 
indefinite quantity, and will bear the equal wave of the second. 
The same is true of nearly all the syllables in the three suc- 
ceeding lines of the passage : and with the exceptions here 
alluded to, the whole is admirably fitted, in its time, for the 
vocal representation of this magnificent description by the 
Never-equalled Poet. 

From an inattention to this point of quantity, it often hap- 
pens that poets use syllables of immutable time, in those em- 
phatic places which call for the expression of the wave. The 
case in the following example, which was cited in the ninth 
section, will now be better understood. * 

And practised distances to cringe, not fight. 

The sentiment of scornful exultation conveyed by the words 
< not fight,' here requires a form of the unequal wave on each 
of these syllables ; but from the limitation of their quantity, it 
is impossible to apply these elements without the most disgust- 
ing departure from correct pronunciation. 

In speaking of the various ascending and descending con- 
crete intervals, it was shown that a similar, though diminished 
effect of intonation was produced by the leap or change of the 
voice, from the radical of any concrete to the top of its vanish, 
without passing through the intermediate space. Now since 
the wave is only a junction of the concretes of its constitu- 
ents, it might naturally be supposed that some expression ana- 
logous to the effect .of a concrete wave, may be produced by 



THE WAVE OF UNEQUAL INTERVALS. 229 

radical changes to the extremes of its flexures. A correspon- 
dence of this kind may be displayed on some of the forms of 
the wave. Thus in the case of the words ' not fight' given 
above, some approximation may be made towards the required 
expression of the continued concrete, by giving the particle 
' not' at a discrete fifth above the line of the current melody; 
then returning discretely to that line on ' fight ;' and subse- 
quenty rising from it with the rapid concrete of a third : thus 
producing a kind of discrete imitation of the direct-double- 
unequal wave of the fifth and third. For if we suppose the 
intonation of ' cringe' to be on a line with the current melody, 
and a concrete to be carried from its place, through the points 
of the rising and falling discrete fifth above mentioned, it will, 
with the rapid vanish of the third, form such a wave. This 
modeof discrete intonation by the higher intervals, comes much 
nearer to the expression of contempt designed by the exulta- 
tion of Satan, than can possibly be reached on the triad of the 
cadence, to which the voice is prone, in this case, from the 
short time of the syllables, and their position at the close of a 
sentence. 

Another example which was given in the ninth section, may 
serve still further to illustrate this design to imitate, by means 
of radical changes, the full expression of a wave of equal in- 
tervals, when a limited syllabic time, renders its prolonged 
movement impracticable. 



Faithful to whom 1 ? To thy rebellious crew? 
Army of Fiends, fit body to Jit head. 



The words here marked in italics convey the sentiments of 
admiration and scornful compliment, and would be intonated 
by a good reader, with an alternate skip of the radical pitch 
through the rise and fall of a fifth : for in this way. only, that 
is by marking the extremes of intervals, which, upon extendi- 
ble syllabic quantity would be given as a wave, can that open 
eye of wonder, and snarling of scorn, be substitutively executed. 
But even with all the assistance from the radical skip, the 
reader, if he possesses the soul of elocution, must still find it 
imprisoned within these words. 



230 RECAPITULATING VIEW OF MELODY. 

I wish here to recall the attention of the reader to the subject 
of syllabication, which was treated of in the fourth section. It 
was there said, that the various accidents of syllables are go- 
verned by the function of the radical and vanishing movement. 
I then hinted that the flow of syllabic sound is not always 
limited by the extent of the upward and the downward con- 
crete ; but that the impulse is practicable upon another form of 
pitch. We are now prepared to hear that the unbroken current 
of the voice, may be carried through the contrary movements of 
the wave, without destroying that singleness of impression 
which constitutes one of the characteristics of a syllable. 

1 said enough on the subject of elemental utterance, to make 
this matter explicable by a few words. The wave is a continu- 
ous sound, and consequently affords no opportunity for the 
silence-breaking outset of a new radical, which, with its fol- 
lowing vanish would produce another syllable. For it was 
shown that an interruption of the concrete, whether made wil- 
fully by pause, or necessarily by the occurrence of an abrupt 
or an atonic element, is unavoidably the end of one syllable, 
and the preface to the beginning of another. 

After the description which has thus far been given of the 
individual functions of the speaking voice, we may take a more 
comprehensive view of the subject, by recapitulating the ac- 
count of these elements as they appear in the connected cur- 
rent of discourse : and thereby show them in the joined rela- 
tions of synthesis, as well as in the separate individuality of 
decomposition. 

We speak to communicate our ideas, and, if the difference 
of the cases is allowed, to express our feeling or sentiments. 
Language should therefore have a set of symbols for each of 
these modes. But as it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw a 
definite line of distinction between mere thoughts and what 
are called sentiments j so the oral symbols which respectively 
represent them can not be absolutely disjoined in arrangement. 
I have, however, endeavoured to give a practical division 
founded on some of their obviously dissimilar phenomena. 

That which 1 call the plain diatonic melody, consists of a 
simple rise through the concrete of a tone, varied by the occa- 
sional use of the downward tone ; with a radical pitch playing 
in its several phrases ; and a termination of the melody by the 



RECAPITULATING VIEW OF MELODY. 231 

descent of the cadence. The smoothness and beauty of deli- 
very, in this case, is largely dependent on that construction of 
the radical and vanish which displays a full and well-marked 
opening of the concrete and a gradual diminution of its force. 
These are the elements employed and this their disposition, for 
reading plain narrative or description : and I am sure that if 
the definitions of astronomy, title deeds of property, and ga- 
zette advertisements, be not read in this style of intonation, 
the effect will be unsuitable to their passionless thoughts. 

In the above cases, as well as in the wider range of subject 
to which the diatonic melody is applied, the movement is sup- 
posed to be with a tripping step and the quantity not unusually 
prolonged. If however the thoughts should have some bearing 
of importance, and call for more impressiveness, an increase 
of quantity in the accented syllables, together with a general 
slowness of the time will be assumed : the concrete still con- 
tinuing in a rising though protracted form. 

Should this deliberate movement be further urged by the in- 
fluence of sentiments of solemn dignity, the melody will as- 
sume the form of the mingled progression of the direct and in- 
verted equal wave of the second. There is much of the church 
service which should be read with this plain protracted intona- 
tion. It conveys in full, the sentiments of august composure 
and solemnity and veneration. The proper management of 
these contrary directions of the wave gives sufficient variety 
to the melody : whilst it avoids those forceful impressions of 
higher intervals of the scale, which would break the stately 
ease and designed simplicity of the movement. 1 believe the 
account of this last style of melody, includes the true history 
of the production of graceful dignity of voice ; which is in 
vain attempted through the breadth of ' o's and < aw's in 
mouthing ; strong percussive accents with long pauses ; the 
waves of wide intervals ; and that heartless affectation which 
passes without motive or rule, in unexpected transition from 
the strongest cushion-beating emphasis, or stage vociferation, 
to the attempted significancy of a mysterious whisper. 

Though the above forms of melody are here represented as 
being used independently of any other mode of intonation, yet 
it must be understood that the rise and fall and wave of the 
second which give them the diatonic character, are almost uni- 



232 RECAPITULATING VIEW OF MELODY. 

versally found mingled with the symbols of higher expression, 
For these melodies may happen to contain a question ; which 
must be made, according to its grammatical construction, or to 
the sentiment which dictates it, either with a thorough or par- 
tial use of the intervals of the third or fifth or octave. And 
though they may embrace no interrogation, yet some words 
which convey a sentiment of surprise, or positiveness, or scorn, 
or serious or mirthful admiration, may call for distinction 
above the rest. Now the emphatic syllables of such words 
are so distinguished by the wider rising and falling intervals of 
the scale, and by the various forms of the wave : this effect 
being produced either by the concrete or the discrete mode of 
intonation. 

There is another interval of the scale, — the Semitone, which 
is used for the emphatic distinction of single words, and which 
conveys a sentiment of complaint or pity or tenderness or sub- 
missive supplication. But the more general use of this semi- 
tone is upon phrases, sentences, and even throughout the long 
track of discourse. This is called the chromatic melody. It too 
has its structure of a simply ascending concrete, which gives 
the least degree of the sentiments of this melody, on its least 
prolonged quantities. It has also the higher wrought and more 
dignified degree of expression, belonging to the equal wave of 
the semitone, in the variations of its direct and inverted, its 
single and its double forms. Some parts of the church service 
which contain the words of complaint, penitence, and suppli- 
cation, call for this solemn wave of the chromatic melody. 

There are other elements which serve to make up the phe- 
nomena of correct, elegant and expressive speech. These were 
considered under the terms, quality of voice ; — melody or the 
run of radical pitch on its different phrases ; — pauses and 
the proper phrases of intonation to be used at them ; — and the 
grouping of the voice, or the means of impressing on an audi- 
tor more definitely the syntactic relation of words and phrases, 
by means of pause, emphasis, and the variations of time and 
force. 

This summary includes the elements which have thus far 
been enumerated. There are some important functions, yet 
to be described, which will furnish us with the symbols of 
other sentiments. 



EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES. 233 



SECTION XXXI. 



Of the Intonation of Exclamatory Sentences. 



In describing the nature of the downward concrete and the 
wave, it was said that these movements are variously expres- 
sive of surprise and admiration. Now as these and like senti- 
ments are embraced by that form of speech which grammarians 
have called Exclamation, I shall endeavour to give an outline 
of some of the principles that seem to govern the intonation of 
Exclamatory sentences. 

I have already said that — besides a mere admission of the 
existence and importance of such a thing as intonation in the 
art of speaking, our institute of Philology has never given 
any other analysis or notation of its specific modes, than that 
which seems to be signified by the common *. notes' of Inter- 
rogation and Exclamation. But as these notes merely imply 
some undescribed peculiarity of voice, without being grounded 
on any analysis or rule of intonation, they can be considered as 
no more than grammatical symbols to the eye. This indefinite 
state of knowledge with regard to the intonation of these forms 
of speech, has been further confused by the vague uses of their 
grammatical signs. For we find the note of interrogation often 
applied to sentences which are really interjective or argumen- 
tative appeals: and which by the light of analysis we now 
possess may be shown to be strictly exclamatory. 

Had the reader been prepared by previous description of the 
downward concrete and the wave, I would have shown in the 
section on interrogative intonation, that some questions are 
made by these movements of pitch. But even this does not form 
an exception to the principle that purely inquiring interroga- 
tion, if I may so call it, is made by the rising intervals alone : 
for 1 am here to show, after what has been said of the reverse 
expression of the falling intervals, that whenever a question 
employs the direct wave, or the downward movement, the in- 
2E 



234 THE INTONATION OF 

terrogative character is lost in the sentiments which require 
these adopted intervals. 

Interrogations are Purely Questionary ; Appealing j 

Argumentative ; Exclamatory ; and Imperative. 

The Questionary requires the rising intervals in the thorough, 
or in various degrees of the partial application, as set forth under 
the proper head of Interrogative intonation. Some of the others 
denote on the part of the interrogator, that positive belief 
upon thesubjectof his own question, which calls forthe use of the 
downward concrete or the direct wave. I have therefore in- 
cluded these forms of interrogation under the head of exclama- 
tory sentences ; which we shall see require the above named 
elements of pitch. It will be difficult however to draw a pre- 
cise line of separation between those forms of speech which 
require the pure interrogation of the rising intervals, and the 
interrogative application of the downward positive movement. 
And though we may not be able to make the points of their 
near resemblance, a matter of exact discrimination, this is no 
reason that we should not describe and arrange their manifest 
distinctions. 

The Appealing Question. The spirit of this interrogatory 
is, in most cases, that of positive conviction. For on one ever 
appeals but with the expectation, that judgment will be given 
in his favor. The appeal is put in the questionary form, either 
with a persuasive deference, or else with a cunning sophistry to 
set the required decision within the view of the person appeal- 
ed to. Now the real or the feigned conviction on the mind of 
the interrogator produces, in questions of this sort, the same 
downward intonation that positive declarations require. I say 
the reference of these questions is made, rather for confirmatory 
approbation than for the unbiased voice of judgment; and this 
is more clearly exhibited in the forms of poetical appeal to the 
decision and will of heaven. For surely this implies the high- 
est assurance of conviction on the part of the interrogator. 
Thus in the fourth act, and second scene of Julius Csesar 
Brutus says, — 

Judge me ye Gods ! Wrong I mine enemies '. 
And if not so, how should I wrong my brother! 



EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES. 235 

Here are two appealing questions put. not in the doubt of in- 
quiry and with anxiety as to a reply, but with the full expec- 
tation of a favorable judgment. The words in italics therefore 
properly require throughout, the downward intonation. In 
truth, the spirit of the expression is exclamatory. 

The Argumentative or Conclusive Question. The object of 
this question is not that of inquiry ; for it is generally address- 
ed upon data, that make the phrase, though grammatically an 
interrogation, rather a logical conclusion from premises that 
have been asserted or admitted. Thus Antony over the body 
of Cassar says — 



He hath brought many captives home to Rome, 
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: 
Did this in Ccesar seem ambitious! 



Or as more strongly marked in this 



You all did see that on the Lupercal, 

I thrice presented him a kingly crown. 

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition! 



These arguments, for so I call them, though addressed with 
the words of a question certainly can not be received in the 
spirit of one. That spirit is really inferential that Caesar was 
not ambitious. In short these cases belong to what may be 
termed an interrogative syllogism, of that species which logi- 
cians call an Enthymeme, or an argument of two propositions 
only, the minor and the conclusion : thus — 



Cffisar thrice refused a kingly crown ; 
Therefore Caesar was not ambitious. 



The syllogism being completed by the addition of its major 
term : thus — 



An Ambitious man would not refuse a kingly crown; 
But Caesar thrice refused a kingly crown, — 
Therefore Caesar was not an ambitious man. 



236 THE INTONATION OF 

Such being the positive character of these phrases, it follows 
from the rules we have laid down, that they should receive 
the intonation of the falling intervals ; the very opposite to 
those which denote interrogation. 

I am aware that according to the present method of reading 
by the mere brutal instinct of the voice, these questions might 
be given with a thorough application of the rising intervals. 
But in this case the intonation would be apt to assume the 
sneering expression of the double-direct or single-inverted 
wave, in order, by its ironical effect, to endue the inquiry with 
the force of a real negation. 

And here 1 may take the opportunity to point out one of 
those many relations which our present analysis will hereafter 
develop, between the arts of grammar and rhetoric and elocution. 
I have endeavoured to show that these phrases are in meaning, 
positive declarations of belief in a fact. But by a figure of 
speech, this meaning is conveyed in the form of a question : 
and questions are generally taken as words of doubt. Conse- 
quently in cases like the above examples, where the voice has 
some positive meaning to express, it must annul the usual power 
of the grammatical question. The means for effecting this, is 
by the use of the most emphatic degree of the downward inter- 
vals ; for the expression of these is furthest removed from that of 
the rising interrogative voice. And this instance may serve to 
pre-signify the kind of vocal and grammatical contrariety, which 
the future cultivators of elocution will be called upon to analyze, 
and to reconcile by the extended powers and resources of their 
art. 

The Exclamatory Question. As I have said above that the 
appealing question is exclamatory, so it may be said here that 
the exclamatory question embraces an appeal. The only ground 
for distinguishing them, is that the exclamatory phrase appears 
to be more removed from the nature of a question than the ap- 
peal, by its seeming the less to require an answer. 

In Shakspeare's Richard II, the King, in that celebrated 
descant on the state of princes, says : — 

I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief, 

Need friends,— subjected thus, 

How can you say to me, I am a King! 



EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES. 237 

The words in italics do not require an answer, for they con- 
tain the sentiments of reproof, displeasure, surprise and con- 
clusive denial ; but not inquiry : and therefore are properly 
expressed by the use of the downward concrete and the direct 
wave. 

The Imperative Question. There is such a thing as over- 
bearing impetus in feelings as well as in physical momentum ; 
by which the expression that belongs to one thought is carried 
into another, which under different circumstances would not 
admit of that expression. Now the case of intonation in an 
imperative question seems to be one of this character : for there 
are here two sentiments in the mind of the speaker, — Com- 
mand and Inquiry ; and these are in immediate connexion with 
each other. But the zeal of the question is exhibited in the 
vehement desire for an answer ; and this desire displays itself 
in the earnest authority of command. By this transfer the 
command assumes the whole of the energy of the case ; and 
seeming to forget, if I may so illustrate the subject, the expres- 
sion that is due to the sentiment of the question, it throws the 
positiveness of the imperative sense over the whole. This is 
exemplified by Macbeth's consultation with the witches. — 

Witches. Seek to know no more. 

Macbeth. I will be satisfied. Deny me this, 

And an eternal curse fall on you. Let me know, 
Why sinks that caldron, and what noise is this! 

The eagerness of Macbeth is here changed to anger, at the 
prospect of disappointment. This anger assumes the intona- 
tion of command in the phrase 'let me know,' and the strong 
downward intonation which this command requires, is by the 
impetus of feeling, if I may so speak, continued throughout the 
two succeeding questions. A good reader will, on trial, at once 
admit the propriety of this positive intonation ; for let him, 
after the angry demand, immediately give to the questions the 
rising intervals of interrogation, and not only will the defect 
of force be apparent, but the violent contrast of expression, will 
be even ludicrous. Yet without the overruling of this impe- 
rative sentiment, the questions would naturally take the inter- 
rogative intonation ; for they contain a real inquiry. 



238 THE INTONATION OF 

In the above instance the question has the previous command 
expressed ; but in all cases were it is wanting we are to under- 
stand the^phrase, — 'tellmei' or some equivalent imperative. 

There are other sentiments requiring the downward inter- 
vals, that may be embraced in the grammatical form of in- 
terrogation. But I have given examples enough of this kind 
of combination, to furnish the means for a complete distinction 
and classification of all its modes. 

Perhaps one of the reasons why questions of the above cha- 
racter drop their proper interrogative intonation, is that the 
grammatical phrase sufficiently indicates the inquiry, and thus 
allows the associated sentiment to assume the downward inter- 
val. 

Upon the subject of the common Note of interrogation, I 
have to remark that as most questions are signified by their 
grammatical construction, and as this symbol in most of its 
places sets no rule for intonation, it may be regarded as use- 
less in all the form of interrogation, except the declaratory, 
and some phrases that without it might be mistaken for impe- 
ratives. In these the mark placed at the end, or better, at the 
beginning of the question, would be definite in its direction, 
from such sentences always requiring the rising intonation. 
That the common mode of applying this symbol must con- 
fuse a reader who pays regard to it, is a fair conclusion from its 
being used indifferently in cases which require, as we have 
now learned, totally opposite modes of intonation. 

Having considered the various kinds of interrogation, let us 
survey them in recapitulation. — 

Questions in their grammatical construction are either decla- 
rative or interrogatory : and with regard to their meaning, they 
are made as a real inquiry, or as an indirect expression of be- 
lief, through the figurative doubt of interrogation. 

Declarative questions, are elliptical sentences, whose inter- 
rogatory clauses being omitted, the question must be signified 
by the application of the wider rising intervals to every sylla- 
ble. Of this, examples were given in the sixteenth section. 
But there are declarative questions which partake so much of 
absolute assertion, that they may be uttered with only a partial 
use of interrogative intonation : as in the following of Hamlet 
to Polonius : — 



EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES. 239 



My lord, you play'd once in the University, you say? 

There is a doubt in this sentence, and as such it is marked by- 
editors : yet the phrase ' you say' puts the question, if such, 
as of a thing that was known before. In a similar form of ad- 
dress Hamlet says to the player : — 



You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen 
lines, which I would set down and insert in't 1 



Declarative questions vary in extent, from the usual length 
of sentences to that of a monosyllable, as was shown in the 
fifteenth section on the interrogative intonation of the word 
'yes.' A similar use may be made of 'no,' and of the single 
state of most of the other parts of speech. 

The purely Interrogatory constructions were described in the 
sixteenth section. Their grammatical forms are various, and 
their spirit, of several degrees and kinds. 

Questions of Real inquiry, are all those embraced by the 
declarative and interrogatory divisions. They bear a thorough 
or a partial intonation, according to the structure or spirit of 
the phrase. 

Those Figurative questions, that denote belief and not doubt 
on the part of the interrogator, are included under the present 
head of exclamatory sentences ; and as we have seen, call for 
the downward intervals or the wave, such as 1 now proceed to 
show proper Exclamations require. 

Many exclamations may be regarded as elliptical sentences. 
The design of these broken phrases is to effect a quick and for- 
cible expression of thought or feeling : and as this is done with 
a brevity of style, which sometimes might not be a full indica- 
tion of the sentiment, it is necessary to employ the additional 
means of intonation. And hence arises the structure and cha- 
racteristic expression of Exclamation. 

The shortest exclamatory, like the shortest declaratory-in- 
terrogative sentence consists of a monosyllabic word, and this 
may be any of the parts of speech, if perhaps we except the 
article, conjunction, and preposition ; the interjection being the 



240 THE INTONATION Oi' 

most common. And this may serve to set the power of into- 
nation in the strongest light ; for thus it seems to be the art of 
speaking almost without words. From the monosyllable, the 
exclamation varies in extent through degrees of the ellipse to 
the full syntax of a sentence. Though there are few that are 
not curtailed by the force of passion. Exclamations might 
then be arranged according to their structures, — as grammati- 
cally imperfect, or as complete. 1 shall class them by the 
sentiments that prompt them. 

When I say that exclamatory sentences generally, if not 
always, bear the falling intervals or the wave, it must be un- 
derstood that the extent of these intervals is in proportion to 
the force of the sentiment. Thus the following interjective 
reflection, from its moderate temper, might require no more 
than the downward second or its direct wave. 

O withered truth ! 

Whilst the energetic emphasis of Hamlet's revengeful excla- 
mation at the atrocity of the king, — 

O villain, villain, smiling damned villain ! 

should receive the deep and forcible descent of the octave. 

Of the many kinds of exclamatory sentences, 1 shall only 
notice, The Admiring, The Plaintive, The Scorn- 
ful, and the Imperative ; since these illustrate the several 

modes of intonation which this style of composition requires. 

The Admiring Exclamation. Admiration is a sentiment felt 
upon new perceptions or thoughts. Now the newness of ob- 
jects, or of the thoughts of them, involves in a degree the sen- 
timent of inquiry as to their quality or nature $ and thus seems 
to call for the use of the rising intervals. But this sentiment 
has not quite the force which would require a verbal or a vocal 
question : whilst, at the same time, there is in the character 
of Exclamation, a positive conviction of the high importance 
of the object of Admiration. It is from embracing these two 
sentiments that the admiring exclamation calls for the direct 
wave or union of the rising and falling intervals ; the positive 
character of the exclamation by the downward course of the 



EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES. 241 

last constituent, predominating over whatever there may be 
of inquiry that gives occasion for a previous rise. Let us take 
as an example, the following description of the assembling of 
the fallen Angels at Pandemonium : 

So thick the airy crowd 
Swarm'd and were straightened; till the signal given, 
Behold a wonder! 



Here, of the words in italics, the syllables ' hold' and 'wond* 
require the direct wave of the fifth, and by their indefinite 
quantity freely admit of it. 

The Plaintive Exclamation. 1 have shown in the eighteenth 
section, in what manner a plaintive interrogation maybe made, 
by the junction of the semitonic expression with the wider 
upward intervals. The plaintive exclamation is produced by 
the rise of the semitone continued into the descending third or 
fifth or octave, according to the force of the sentiment ; thus 
constituting^ direct wave of unequal intervals. The direct 
wave of the semitone and fifth is the proper intonation, for the 
accented syllables of the following plaintive exclamation of 
Macduff: 



O Banquo, Banquo, 
Our royal master's murdered! 



The Scornful Exclamation. It was said in the thirtieth sec- 
tion that Scorn, according to its degree, is expressed by the 
simple rise or fall of the wider intervals, or by the various 
forms of the wave, when made with an aspirated or a guttural 
voice ; the lighter degrees of expression, or the simple rise and 
fall beingappropriatetothe sneer, and the stronger, to the deep- 
est contempt and execration. Now when such sentiments are 
contained within short emphatic sentences, it constitutes what I 
have called the Scornful Exclamation ; as in the following, 
from the Merchant of Venice. 

Bassanio. This is seignor Antonio. 

Shylock. How like & f atoning publican he looks! 

2F 



242 EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES. 

The sentiment of this last line will be properly expressed, if 
the syllables in italics receive the unequal wave of the rising 
fifth and falling octave, under a slight degree of guttural aspi- 
ration : whilst the other short quantities of the sentence are 
uttered in the falling fifth, with the like aspiration. 

The Imperative Exclamation. An imperative sense uni- 
versally requires a downward interval or a direct wave. Other 
elements, such as the modes of stress, aspiration, and guttural 
emphasis, to be spoken of hereafter, serve to mark the degrees 
of force or authority in the command. The following excla- 
mation of Macbeth to the Ghost of Banquo, requires the 
downward fifth or octave throughout ; according to the energy 
the speaker may think appropriate to its delivery. 

Hence horrible shadow, 
' Unreal mockery hence! 

But 1 need not pursue this subject further. Exclamations 
are but forcible expressions ; and there may be as many kinds 
as there are modes of feeling and thought. Thus every mental 
energy and passion may be found illustrated in composition. 
I have by these few instances, shown the grounds of classifica- 
tion : and when hereafter elocution shall, upon the foundation 
of our present analysis, be raised into a science, and so cease 
to be, as it is now, a mere animal function, all those things 
whose end I but perceive, shall be in fact accomplished by 
others. 

Upon the subject of Interrogation and Exclamation, it is to 
be remarked that in some cases, emphatic distinction may re- 
quire the use of the downward interval or the direct wave, 
among the rising intervals of interrogation ; and a rising inter- 
val, among the downward concretes and direct waves of excla- 
mation. The contrasts of intonation in such instances consti- 
tuting one of the characteristics of what is called emphasis, or 
an impressive designation of single words. 



THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 243 



SECTION XXXII. 



Of the Tremor of the Voice. 



If the reader has borne in mind the definitions contained in 
the first section of this essay, he must be aware that the func- 
tions of pitch thus far analyzed are, severally, phenomena of 
the concrete and discrete scales, and of the chromatic. I de- 
sign to speak now of an element of expression derived from the 
Tremulous scale. 

This scale consists of a rise and fall through the octave, by 
the successive steps of that particular play in the throat which 
in common language is called gurgling. I have not invented 
the term Tremor as significative of a mode of the voice : but 
I here first give an analysis of the function, and decree its sys- 
tematic arrangement, as conducive to the establishment of 
principles, for the attainment of correctness and elegance of 
speech. 

In treating of the tremulous scale, I gave a very general ac- 
count of its construction. I must now be more particular. 

It has more than once been affirmed in this essay, that every 
effort of the voice is necessarily made through the radical and 
vanishing movement : and I hope it has been satisfactorily 
shown, that the audible characteristic of the several intervals 
of the scale may be distinctly recognized, even on the shortest 
immutable syllables. 

Since then each of the tonic and subtonic elements does, even 
in its shortest time, always pass through the concrete, it fol- 
lows that, however quickly successive any one of them may 
be repeated, each impulse of the iteration must be a concrete 
interval. If therefore the tremor be made on any of the above 
named elements or their syllabic combinations, the successive 
constituent impulses of that tremor will each consist of an 



244 THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 

abrupt radical and of a rapid concrete of some one interval of 
the scale. Taking the name of the interval as a designation, 
there ma)' be a tremor of the semitone, of the second, of the 
third, of the fifth and of the octave. That is, each of the suc- 
cessive impulses may rapidly rise or fall through those inter- 
vals respectively. In this case the impulses are supposed to be 
continued on the same line of radical pitch, the vanishes rising 
therefrom to their required heights ; but it is easy to under- 
stand that whilst the iteration of the tremulous impulses is 
going on, through any concrete interval, for instance the se- 
cond, the radical pitch of these concrete seconds may be carried 
upward or downward through the whole compass of the voice, 
This change of radical pitch in the tremulous movement is 
made in two ways. 

First : A given number of these iterations of the tremor, or 
Tittles, if I may so call its several impulses, are continued on 
one line of radical pitch. A change is then made through the 
upward interval of a tone. On this line the tittles are again 
continued ; and thus by an alternate succession of iterations on 
a line, and changes by proximate degrees, the voice may ascend 
through the whole extent of the scale. Tn this way it is mani- 
fest that the rise is merely through the diatonic scale of song, 
with the addition of the tremor on each of the stated places of 
the scale. 

Secondly : The ascent through the scale may be made by 
each tittle of the tremor being taken successively above the 
last, at a less distance than the tone or even the semitone. In 
this way, by a gradual rise of the radical pitch, the whole com- 
pass of the voice may be traversed. 

We have no means for ascertaining the extent of space between 
the tittles, in this rise of the tremor. It may be inferred that 
it is considerably less than a semitone : For if we make a tre- 
mulous movement through any cognizable interval, for in- 
stance an ascending third, and this may be accurately done by 
first familiarizing the ear with the effect of the simple interval 
in its skip from first to third, and then comparing it with that 
of a rise by the tremor — it will be perceived, that in this 
gradual ascent, the number of tremulous steps greatly exceeds 
five ; for that is the number perceived in executing a third, 
through the degrees of the semitonic scale. 



THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 



245 



When the tremulous movement is made through the de- 
scending scale, whether by the diatonic progress and iteration 
on a line, or by the gradual change of minuter intervals, the 
concrete of the tittles takes likewise the downward movement : 
for the expression designed by the downward course of the 
radical pitch of the tittles, seems to require a like direction of 
the concrete. Nor have I been able to perceive, in the ordi- 
nary uses of the voice, that the radical pitch of the tremor, and 
its concrete, move in contrary directions to each other. 

In order to illustrate the nature of the tremulous movement, 
I give below a diagram of its various modes just described. In 
the first and second bars the tittles are represented on one line 
of radical pitch : the concrete ascent of each tittle in the first 
being a tone, and in the second a fifth. The third bar shows 
the first method by which the tremor ascends, upon the steps of 
the diatonic scale. The fourth and fifth bars show the second 
method of rising by a gradual progress through intervals less 
than a semitone ; one having the concrete pitch of a second, 
and the other that of a fifth. 

This exemplifies only the upward course of the radical pitch 
and of the concrete : but the concrete may descend when the 
tremor is on one continued line ; and I have said above, that 
whilst the radicals of the tittles descend, either by the steps of 
the diatonic scale, or by the gradual change of minute intervals, 
the concretes of the tittles do likewise descend. Now this 
condition of the tremulous movement, is illustrated by taking 
the diagram from right to left in an inverted position. 



/ / / I 1 


i(i( rr'oii (mi 


uu iiiiw' i^ W» 



The tremor then consists of a number of impulses of sound, 
of the least assignable duration, which nevertheless do pass 
concretely through some one interval of the scale, and which 
rapidly succeed each other. These impulses being either itera- 



246 THE TREMOR OP THE VOICE. 

tions on the same line of pitch, or a series of sounds rising or 
falling through the scale by very small discrete intervals. 

That the tremor is so constructed, may be learned from ex- 
periment ; for it will show that the tremulous voice may be 
continued on a line, without rising or falling; and that it may 
be carried to the lowest audible pitch, or to the highest reach of 
the falsette. And further, that the constituent tittles of the 
tremor, however momentary, do pass rapidly through concrete 
intervals may be proved by trial : for the plaintive effect of 
intonation, which is producible only on a semitone or minor 
third, may be heard on every part of the ascending series of the 
tremor, through the whole compass of the voice ; and in like 
manner the plain effect of the tone, and the interrogative ex- 
pression of the third or fifth or octave, may be given to this 
rising series. Now as the iterated skip of the ascent is not a 
semitone, or tone, or other higher interval, but a very minute 
space as was shown above, it is plain, the effects here spoken 
of are not produced by the minute skip, but by a momentary 
transit of the concrete tittles through those intervals respec- 
tively. 

It was upon the ground of this mode of progression, so dif- 
ferent from the concrete movement and from the diatonic steps 
by tone and semitone, that I ventured, in the first section, 
to designate this discrete and chattering variation of pitch, 
the Tremulous scale. 

As it has been stated that this tremulous function may be 
exhibited either in a rising or falling movement, it is scarcely 
necessary to add the conclusion that it may be carried through 
the compounded form of the wave. Let us then after the ana- 
logy of our preceding nomenclature, call the minute spaces of 
the rise and fall of the series of iterations, — the Radical pitch 
of the tremor : and the rapid concrete of each of the successive 
sounds or titles, — its Concrete pitch. 

The uses and power of the tremor, in the work of expres- 
sion, can be better explained after a prefatory consideration of 
the functions of Laughter and Crying. 

The pure and unpronounced act of Laughter consists in the 
use of the tremulous scale, both in its concrete and radical 
pitch. Its concrete pitch may be any of the intervals of the scale, 
except the semitone or minor third ; whilst its radical pitch may 



THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 247 

either be continued on the same line, or it may rise or fall 
through the whole compass of the voice. In speaking of the 
application of a concrete interval to immutable syllables, 
it was shown that the space of the rapid transit though im- 
measurable directly as an interval of the scale, may yet be as- 
certained by its characteristic expression : and the reader may 
practically apply the principle here, in discriminating the in- 
tervals which are used in laughter. 

If the concrete pitch Be that of a tone, and the tremor be 
continued in the same line of radical pitch, the function may 
indeed bear the name of laughter, but it will be a mere phleg- 
matic chuckling in the throat. Whilst the concrete is still in 
the tone, if the iterations of the radical pitch rise and fall 
alternately through the scale, the expression of the laugh will 
become more sprightly and colored. When the third or the 
fifth is used in the concrete pitch, and the radical iterations are 
carried through the wider intervals of the scale, it gives the 
utmost indication of vivid excitement. 

Laughter is generally made on one of the tonic elements, but 
it may be executed on the subtonics, and even on the atonies 
in a whispering breath. It is made on all places within the com- 
pass of the voice, but it generally affects the falsette. Suppo- 
sing the quality of the voice to be given, that mode of laughter 
will be most agreeable and varied and spirited, which is made 
by a tremor of well accented tittles, distinctly separated from 
each other ; with a concrete pitch, moving in succession, 
through every interval except the semitone; and playing 
through the whole range of the vocal compass, in its radical 
pitch : the expression being still further marked by variations 
in force or loudness, as the tremor rises and falls by these 
radical changes. 

Crying is made by a movement through the simple rise or 
fall of the semitone, or of the minor third, or through the di- 
rect or inverted wave of these intervals. No other interval is 
used in this function: The act of crying has two modes: it may 
be in the concrete or in the tremulous scale. Infants cry in 
the first manner, by a mere protracted quantity on some tonic 
element. It is a long time before the tremor is heard in their 
voice. The first step towards it, is in the convulsive catch 
of sobbing. By degrees this increases in frequency, and 



248 THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 

the cry becomes at last composed of the rapid iteration of the 
tremor. 

The tremulous function of crying, like that of laughter, 
consists of a concrete and of a radical pitch. That is, its rapid 
concrete semitone or minor third may successively ascend or 
descend through the whole compass of the voice, by such 
minute discrete steps as were ascribed to the radical pitch of 
laughter. The tremulous mode of crying gives the strongest 
characteristic of this function. 

It sometimes happens that children whilst crying in the 
tremulous movement, do from some momentary change of 
sentiment, and without a cessation of the tremor, pass into 
laughter. Here a cheerful sentiment necessarily produces a 
change of the concrete from the semitone or minor third to the 
second or other higher interval. And in a paroxysm of hysteria, 
the transition between these different means of gay and plain- 
tive expression are so frequent and rapid, that the hearer is 
often at a momentary loss, to say which function is in operation. 
Under these circumstances a person may properly be said to 
laugh and cry in the same breath . 

The association of the semitone or minor third, whether in 
their simply prolonged or their tremulous form, with the sen- 
timent of distress is so close, that though crying may have 
ceased, still if the feeling of distress has not passed away, there 
is a kind of mental hiatus in the attempt to return even to the 
diatonic intonation of speech. The chromatic will rather be 
assumed. There are persons, who, for the sake of sport or 
fraud, play the part of crying. If they are habitual mimics, 
and have flexible voices, they may deceive. But nature will 
often be honest, where humanity, her counterpart, would be the 
knave. Crafty men are so well aware that the lips may mar 
the underplots of the heart, that they are obliged to guard the 
ruling passion by silence. When ; mirth or sorrow is in the 
mind, it is hard to restrain its habitual expression. He who 
would be to others an unsuspected hypocrite in his voice, must 
mask even his sentiments to himself. 

After the foregoing account of the use of the tremor upon 
single elements, in the functions of laughter and crying, it is 
not difficult to foresee the effect of its application to syllabic 
utterance in the current of discourse. 



THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 249 

When the semitone of speech is given under the form of 
tremor, it increases the force of the expression which belongs 
to the concrete of that interval, in the chromatic melody. For 
since crying is the ultimate voice of distress, its tremulous 
characteristic is adopted as the means of marking an intensity 
of feeling, in the excess of complaint and grief, and the ardor 
of distressful or tender supplication. Tremulous speech is the 
utmost practicable crying upon words. 

To exhibit the engrafting of the tremor on a syllable, let the 
reader pronounce the word 'name,' in tremulous movement 
through the simple rise or fall, or the wave of the semitone. 
He will perceive that the tremor is made equally on the tonic, 
and each of the two subtonic elements which constitute the syl- 
lable. 

The tremor on the semitone may be used partially in a sen- 
tence, to mark emphatically the plaintive sentiment of a single 
word : or it may be used in continuation throughout portions 
of discourse. If it is worth while to give a term to this last 
named condition of speech, it may be called the Tremulous 
chromatic melody. The following stanza, in which the tremor 
of age is supposed to be joined with that of supplicating dis- 
tress, may, when read with the coloring of dramatic action, 
afford a proper example of this melody. 

Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, 

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your "doorj 

Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; 

O give relief and heaven will bless your store. 

Here the tremor of the semitone may be applied to every 
syllable capable of prolongation, which is the case with all ex- 
cept those of ' pity' and < shortest :' but even these may with 
pardonable extension, receive it. For it must be understood, 
that some particular purposes of expression allow a breadth of 
quantity on those immutable syllables and unemphatic and un- 
accented words, which in dispassionate utterance would bear 
but the shortest time. 

The occasional use of the tremor of the semitone upon indi- 
vidual words will be noticed in the future section on emphasis. 

When the tremulous function is made through the second, 
2G 



250 THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 

third, fifth or octave, or through the wave of these intervals, 
it joins the sentiment of derision, mirth, joy or exultation to 
that of interrogation, surprise, command, or scorn, conveyed 
by the smooth concrete of those intervals. In short, it is the 
introduction into speech of what is transferable in the func- 
tion of laughter ; and it adds thereto all the meaning and force 
of its satisfaction. 

The tremor on these higher intervals is used principally for 
emphasis, as will be illustrated hereafter : though in playful 
discourse, it is sometimes heard in continuation on more than 
one syllable, and occasionally even on short sentences. 

There is a use of this laughing tremor, if I may so call its 
execution on these intervals, which deserves notice. I mean 
that hysterical exclamation which is heard in the higher scenes 
of the drama. In this case, the tremor seems to be subservient 
to all species of expression : for there is scarcely a passion, 
whether of joy or suffering, in which it may not be effectively 
used. One can understand readily why this vehement ex- 
pression should mark the excess of those feelings which are 
naturally connected with laughter : but it is not at once mani- 
fest why nature should so reverse the ordination of her signs, 
as to give the concrete tremor of the second or of higher inter- 
vals, to those sentiments which in cases of less excitement 
instinctively receive the semitone or the minor third. Let us 
try to explain this matter. 

The occasions on which this hysteric laugh is employed, are 
those of the highest possible intensity of distress. Now by 
the ordinary rule of moderate expression, the tremulous semi- 
tone should be used : and with this indeed the expression does 
generally begin. But as the feeling increases in vehemence, 
the mind becomes so far overruled by its excess as to dissever 
the natural association : and the voice, giving way to the mere 
habit of employing the higher intervals for keen expression, 
leaves the concrete tremor of the semitone or minor third for 
the more free expansion and piercing energy of the third or 
fifth or octave. This is the reason why in hysteria, which is 
usually brought on by distress, or other strong emotions, the 
ordinary course of expression is averted ; and whilst the more 
moderate forms of this disease are signified by the semitonsc 
intonation, its higher gusts are characterized by an idiotic 



THE TREMOR OF THE VOICE. 251 

laugh. On the whole, although this last mentioned mode of 
expression, when under skilful management and taste, is often 
both proper and effective, yet as it is generally accompanied 
with considerable grimace, is a positive thing, and can be well 
heard in the remote corners of the gallery, it is too apt to be 
contrived for gathering in the eyes and ears of an audience, by 
actors, who without feeling its rarely appropriate occasions, 
are yet by accident master of its mechanical execution. 

It requires more than common facility of voice to perform 
the tremor with precision and elegance. Its full efficacy and 
most graceful finish is accomplished by giving it the greatest 
number of breaks or iterations of which the assumed interval 
is susceptible ; by making the constituent tittles in fluent suc- 
cession, with a distinct accent, with equal time and force, and 
with a ready power of ascent and descent through the scale. 

As the tremor may be applied to all the intervals both as- 
cending and descending, and to their combination in the wave: 
and as these elements bear different kinds or various degrees of 
expression, it follows, that the character of the tremor may 
appear under other modifications than those of joy and sorrow. 
For if it be set upon a downward interval, say of the fifth, the 
expression will be of a graver cast than when heard on a rise 
of the same extent : and on the upward second it will have 
less gaiety than belongs to the tremulous fifth or octave. 

After the preceding view of the simple intervals, and of the 
tremor, the reader may be able to foresee and to recognise the 
effect of any other detailed combinations. If with all I have 
said he can not do this for himself, it would be to no purpose 
to do it for him. It is an agreeable office to stand prompter to 
a pausing, yet a ready comprehension : but it is a groaning 
service to be obliged to push on a feeble or unwilling intellect 
to the last syllable of its part. 



252 FORCE OF VOICE. 



SECTION XXXIII. 



Of Force of Voice. 



The words loud and soft, strong and weak, are used in com- 
mon language, to signify the variations of sound comprehended 
under the generic term at the head of this section. 

This subject may be set in two aspects. Force of voice may 
be applied to phrases, or to one or more sentences, in order to 
distinguish them from adjacent phrases or sentences in dis- 
course. It may likewise be limited to single words, to syllables, 
and to certain parts of the concrete movement, to distinguish 
them from other words and syllables, and from other parts of 
the concrete. The detailed history of this limited application 
of force, will be given in the six -following sections. Under 
the present head 1 speak transiently of its use on phrases and 
sentences. 

Writers on elocution, and school books on the art of reading, 
give general rules for enforcing and reducing the voice, on 
continued passages. It is not necessary to swell the bulk of 
this volume, by transcribing them. It may not however be 
useless to run over the process by which a philosophical in- 
quiry might be conducted, for the purpose of reaching the 
principles that govern the association of certain degrees of 
force, with the circumstances of the speaker, or with affections 
of the mind. 

From the wide reach of an intense exertion of the voice, 
there is an obvious propriety in its employment, when distance 
is pictured in discourse. The indication of nearness, on the 
contrary, is well expressed by an abatement of that force. 

Secrecy muffles the voice against discovery : and doubt, 
whilst it leans towards a positive declaration, cunningly pre- 
pares the subterfuge of an undertone, that the impression of 
its possible error may be least exciting and durable. 



FORCE OF VOICE. 253 

Certainty, on the other hand, in the full desire to be heard, 
distinctly assumes all the impressiveness of strength. 

Anger in like manner uses force of voice, because its charges 
and denials are made with a wide appeal, and in the sincerity 
of passion : and if I may make distinctions on this point, the 
same mode is employed in uttering those feelings which are 
blended with anger, such as hate, ferocity and revenge. 

All those sentiments which are unbecoming or disgraceful, 
smother the voice to its softer degrees, in the desire to conceal 
even the voluntary utterance of them. 

Joy is loud in calling for companionship, through the over- 
flowing charity of its satisfaction. 

Bodily pain, fear and terror, are also strong in their expres- 
sion : with the double intention, of summoning relief, and re- 
pelling the offending cause when it is a sentient being. For 
the sharpness and vehemence of the full strained cry are univer- 
sally painful or appalling to the animal ear. 

In thus amusing the reader with fancies, for so I ought to 
call them, I have perhaps ventured too far into the vain and 
presumptuous doctrine of Final Causes. But though we have 
therein temporarily strayed, let us not forget the duties of phi- 
losophy : It is her office to inquire how things exist ; the know- 
ledge of why they so exist, must be the last act of favor which 
time and toil will bestow. Our steps over the works of man 
may go hand in hand with the comprehension of their final 
causes : for the author can tell us the narrow purpose of their 
parts. But the final causes of nature will be unfolded, only in 
the last recapitulating chapter of her infinite revelation. 

From this cursory view of force, when employed on aggre- 
gates of words, 1 pass to consider in the following sections, the 
circumstances under which force or stress may be laid on single 
words or syllables, and on different parts of the radical and 
vanishing concrete. It will be shown, that an attentive and 
well disciplined ear has the ability to perceive the different 
effects of stress, when set on the beginning, the middle, and 
the end of the concrete movement, or when heard in imme- 
diate succession at its extremes : that force of utterance may 
be so continued throughout the concrete, as to alter the charac- 
teristic feebleness of the vanish : and that whilst the relative 
structure of radical and vanish, formerly described, remains 



254 FORCE OF VOICE. 

the same, force may magnify proportionally the whole of the 
concrete. 

These functions are successively denominated, in the six 
ensuing sections — the Radical, the Median, the Vanishing, 
and the Compound stress, the Thorough stress and the Loud 
concrete. 






SECTION XXXIV. 
Of the Radical Stress. 



The Radical stress consists in an abrupt and forcible emis- 
sion of voice at the beginning of the concrete movement. 

The Natural radical and vanish, described in the second sec- 
tion, which I here call natural, to distinguish it from the other 
forms enumerated abore, was indeed represented as having an 
initial fulness ; but the function of stress, now under conside- 
ration, is characterized by a higher degree of force and a more 
sudden explosion, in the first opening of the voice : whilst the 
subsequent vanish is carried on in the diminishing structure of 
the natural concrete. There are so few speakers, able to give 
a radical stress to syllabic utterance, with this momentary 
burst which I here mean to describe, that I must draw an illus- 
tration from the effort of coughing. It will be perceived that 
a single impulse of coughing, is not in all points exactly like 
the abrupt voice on syllables ; for that single impulse is a forc- 
ing out of almost all the breath : yet if the tonic element * c-we' 
be employed as the vocality of coughing, its abrupt opening 
will truly represent the function of radical stress when used in 
discourse. 

The clear and forcible radical stress can take place only after 



THE RADICAL STRESS. 255 

an interruption of the voice. It would seem as if there is some 
momentary occlusion in the larynx, by which the breath is 
barred and accumulated for the purpose of a full and sudden 
discharge. This occlusion is most under command, and the 
explosion is most powerful, on syllables beginning with a tonic 
element, or with an abrupt one preceding a tonic : for in this 
last case, an obstruction in the organs of articulation is com- 
bined with the function of the larynx, above supposed. When 
a syllable begins with a subtonic, or an atonic which is not 
abrupt, the full degree of explosion is not practicable, as in 
'manful,' 'foster.' If such words are pronounced with vehe- 
ment stress, there is always an interruption of the voice after 
the initial element, in order that the tonic may receive the full 
force of radical explosion. This account may serve to explain 
more particularly the part which is performed, in intonation, 
by subtonic elements, at the beginning of syllables. For it 
was said in treating of syllabication that the subtonic does not 
always make a part of the concrete movement : but when it has 
more than a momentary quantity, it is continued upon a line 
of pitch, and the succeeding tonic opens with a proper radical 
function. This occurs on most occasions, for though it is possi- 
ble for a tonic to be opened so gradually, as to allow its being 
engrafted on a subtonic which has previously risen partly 
through the concrete, still there is so much of the abrupt ful- 
ness in the usual utterance of a tonic element, that it generally 
assumes to itself the first point in the interval. 

If an immutable S)dlable beginning with a subtonic is pro- 
longed by oratorical license, the subtonic is made to rise with a 
concrete movement through the designed interval. Thus it is 
with the words ' let' and ' pluck' when so prolonged : yet in 
these cases, with a view to join all the constituents of the syl- 
lable into one impulse, the tonics must be given in the feeblest 
effort of the vanish. For should they be pronounced without 
this caution, it will be perceived that after the initial subtonics 
have ascended, the tonics, with the subsequent atonies, if struck 
with force, will, in reality, produce another rapid immutable 
syllable, succeeding one which has been formed by the con- 
crete ascent of the subtonic : a subtonic, as I have said, being 
susceptible of the concrete movement, both through a simple 
inflection, and through the wave. 



THE RAI 



fRESS. 



The power of giving a strong, full and clear radical stress on 
the tonic element, is not a common accomplishment among 
speakers ; yet the free and proper management of this function 
is of eminent importance in elocution. Its two principal pur- 
poses are, — to contribute to the excellence of articulation : and 
to form the distinguishing accent on immutable syllables. 
These syllables admitting of only a faint display of the peculiar 
effect of the slow concrete, and being incapable, as will be said 
hereafter, of bearing the other modes of stress ; the abrupt or 
explosive enforcement of the radical is their principal means 
for distinction. 

Having pointed out the instrumentality of the radical stress 
in the work of articulation, this is perhaps the proper place to 
describe particularly the phenomena which constitute distinct 
pronunciation. 

This subject has three division : the First embraces a consi- 
deration of the specific sounds which the changeable decrees 
of human convention give to the alphabetic elements. The Se- 
cond regards the subject of radical stress : and the Third, an 
appropriation of the several constituent elements of a syllable, 
to the concrete movement. 

The first of these matters is under the rule of every body, 
and therefore is very properly to be excluded from the discus- 
sions of that philosophy which desires to be effectual in its in- 
struction. How can we hope to establish a system of elemen- 
tal pronunciation in a language, when great masters in criticism 
condemn at once every attempt, in so simple and useful a labour 
as the correction of its orthography ! 

Supposing then the sound of the elements to be precisely that 
which temporary authority has determined, the clearness of 
pronunciation will depend, — 

Secondly, on the effective execution of the radical stress. 
Although it will be said presently, that every element should 
be heard in the syllabic impulse, yet the tonic, from its very 
nature is generally the most remarkable in the compound. 
The characteristic of the syllable, therefore, lies, in a great 
measure, within this element ; and a full explosive radical 
stress being laid on it, contributes much to distinct enunciation. 
It is this which draws the cutting edge of words across the ear, 
and startles even stupor into attention : — this which lessens 



THE RADICAL STRESS. 257 

the fatigue of listening, and out-voices the stir and rustle of an 
assembly : — and it is the sensibility to this, through a general 
instinct of the animal ear, which gives authority to the groom 
and makes the horse submissive to his angry accent. Besides 
the fulness, loudness and abruptness of the radical stress, when 
employed to give distinct articulation, the tonic sound itself 
should be a pure vocality. For when it is mixed with an as- 
piration, the quality of utterance loses that brilliancy, if I may 
so call it, which serves to increase the impressive effect of the 
explosive force. 

Thirdly. The doctrine of syllabication, set forth in this 
work, suggests additional means for effecting what is called dis- 
tinct articulation. In order to insure a clear and striking utter- 
ance, the whole syllable should not only be sufficiently loud, 
but each elementary constituent should be so distinct as to pre- 
vent the possibility of confounding syllables which have the 
same tonic elements, but which ditfer partially or universally 
in their subtonics. Now this is to be done by distributing the 
time and space of the concrete property among the elements of 
the given syllable. This will be best explained by particular 
instances. I have heard an Actor of great celebrity pronounce 
the word 'plain' by prolonging the voice on the '1,' and subse- 
quently terminating the syllable by a momentary transit on 
'aim' Though in this case, the <1' was clearly audible, the 
rapid flight and blending of the 'a' and ' n' rendered the effect 
of the whole syllable both faint and confused. The conse- 
quence of this kind of pronunciation, for it was a general fault 
with the player to whom I allude, was, that if he turned his 
face from the audience whilst speaking, many of his words, 
though forcible enough in mere sound, were unintelligible to 
an attentive ear at mean distances in the theatre. A practice 
like this obstructs the equable flow of the concrete, and over- 
rules the proper apportionment of time to its syllabic constitu- 
ents. For if each of the elements of the word ' plain' have their 
due portion of the concrete, the pronunciation will at once be 
distinct. 

The principles of articulate utterance under this third head, 
may be exemplified in the following sentence : 

.Not that I loved Caesai less, but that I loved Rome more. 
2H 



258 THE RADICAL STRESS. 

If we give emphatic importance to the word ' more,' by the 
mere extent of quantity, and not by peculiarity of intonation : 
and if this quantit}^ be spread upon the unequal wave, with a 
view to give the feeble cadence to the dignified protraction of 
the word : — Then in an apportionment of the elements, should 
' m' be carried through the rise of the second, and continued 
downward for some distance through a third; the 'o' and 'r' 
being rapidly made at the termination of the wave, — under 
these conditions, I say, the word will not be well articulated. 
But if the time of the wave be divided into three parts about 
equal, and the ' m' ' o' and ' r' be severally assigned to these 
parts, the utterance will have all required distinctness. 

There are many immutable syllables beginning with a sub- 
tonic, which a reader, in the current of dignified utterance, is 
sometimes prompted to prolong beyond the limit of their allow- 
able time. When this practice is assumed by oratorical license, 
the added quantity is generally expended wholly on the initial 
subtonic. Thus if the syllables 'not,' 'met,' 'reck,' 'lit,' 
' that' and ' vig,' be unusually prolonged, there will be less de- 
parture from fixed pronunciation, by giving the additional 
quantity to the subtonics, than to the tonics. But still there 
will be a want of that distinctness by which a syllable is imme- 
diately recognized : for syllables are known in part, by the 
habit of their quantity, both as regards the absolute time of the 
whole, and the comparative time of their elemental parts ; and 
these points, upon the supposition before us, are widely varied. 
Now in the above instances, the time of the several elements, 
which strictly should be about equal, is in extreme dispropor- 
tion : for whilst the subtonic is extended to what we have call- 
ed an indefinite quantity, the tonic and the following abrupt 
element have only their proper momentary duration. 

And this which is here assigned as the cause of indistinctness 
in speech, will be shown, in a future section to be still more 
frequently a cause of inarticulate pronunciation in the efforts 
of the Singing voice. 

In the two cases of the words ' plain' and ' more' it is recom- 
mended to divide the time of the concrete equally among the 
elements ; and this is necessary for the correct pronunciation 
of many other syllables, having a similar construction. But 
we can not give a universal rule on this point, since some inde- 



THE MEDIAN STRESS. 259 

finite syllables, such as I men' l run' < lin' < gel,' have their pro- 
longation on the subtonic elements, and will not bear any addi- 
tion to their short tonics. 

The radical stress may be exhibited both on immutable and 
on indefinite syllables ; in the former case, from the shortness 
of the quantity, the function produces, as it were, a mere ex- 
plosive point of sound. 

This stress may be given to all the intervals both rising and 
falling, and to the beginning of the wave. 

From what has been said, it must not be understood that the 
radical stress is used merely to give the distinction of loudness 
to immutable syllables : the enforcement is likewise appropri- 
ate to the various sentiments embraced by them. But this 
mode of stress is more particularly a symbol of the highest de- 
grees of passion. 



SECTION XXXV. 
Of the Median Stress. 



It was said, the Radical stress is principally effective in dis- 
tinguishing immutable syllables. Long quantities admitting 
of other modifications which may attract the ear, more rarely 
require the initial explosive fulness. They receive their stress, 
with greater embellishment, from an enforcing of utterance on 
the middle portion of the concrete movement. 

As a pause is always the preface to abruptness, the explosive 
characteristic of the radical stress, can not be employed during 
the course of a continuous movement. The median stress is 
therefore a gradual strengthening and subsequent reduction of 
the voice, similar to what is called a swell in the language of 



260 THE MEDIAN STRESS. 

musical expression. There is this difference between them. 
The swell of song is sometimes made on a note continued up- 
on the same line of pitch : whereas the median stress is always 
in either an upward or downward course ; or about the junc- 
tion of these directions in the wave. 

This element of force is applied to all the intervals of the 
scale : but its very construction indicates the necessity of pro- 
tracted time for its execution, and therefore that it is most dis- 
tinguishable on the greater intervals. It may be obvious even 
on the simple rise or fall of the second, when unusually pro- 
longed. But the quantity of this interval as well as that of the 
semitone is rarely extended to any considerable degree in its 
simple state. Those dignified sentiments which require length, 
direct the employment of the waves of these two intervals. 
Yet the power of the median stress is not thereby lost, for in 
this case it is applied to about the middle of the course of the 
concretes: that is about the junction of the two lines of con- 
trary flexure. What is here said of the wave of these two in- 
tervals, may be affirmed of the wave of all intervals of the 
scale. If the median stress is applied to the double wave, it 
must be on the course of a downward or upward constituent, 
according as the wave may be direct or inverted ; for such con- 
stituent will be in each case the middle portion of the whole 
extent of sound. 

The median stress is applicable to the intervals of the tremu- 
lous scale : and in effect, only enforces by greater loudness, 
the tittles in the middle of any given interval, or at the junction 
of a single wave, or on the middle constituent of a double one. 
When thus employed, it adds impressiveness to the senti- 
ments signified by the tremor, and furnishes variety to the 
ear. 

In as much as force, generally speaking, may be used con- 
jointly with other means of expression, its principal purpose 
is to enhance the power of those other means. Thus if the 
median stress is laid on the semitone, it gives force to itsplain- 
tiveness : if on the downward concrete, it adds to the degree 
of its wonder or positiveness : if on the rising third or fifth or 
octave, it sharpens the spirit of interrogation. Such is like- 
wise the effect of the radical stress ; the energetic effort of 
which sometimes amounts even to violence. But the median 



THE MEDIAN STRESS. 261 

stress now under consideration, sets forth the intensity of the 
voice, in a form of greater dignity than all the other modes. 
The radical stress having an abrupt opening, and the vanishing, 
as I shall say presently, having a sudden termination, there is 
a sharp earnestness in their manner which is not conveyed by 
the median : the aim and power of which • in the very torrent 
of expression,' is to 'beget a temperance which may give it 
smoothness. ' 

Here pardon me, reader, when I pass from instruction to 
eulogy. 

If she could now be heard, 1 would point in illustration, to 
Britain's great Mistress of the voice. Since that can not be, 
let those who have not forgotten the stately dignity of Mrs. 
Siddons, bear witness to the effect of the graceful vanish of 
her concrete, and of that swelling energy by which she richly 
enforced the expression of joy, and surprise, and indignation. 
But why should 1 be so sparing in praise, as to select her emi- 
nent exemplification of the single subject before us ; when it 
seems to my recollection that a whole volume of elocution 
might be taught by her instances. 

It is apparently a partial rule of criticism, but when drawn 
from delicate perceptions, made wise by cultivation, it is the 
best — to measure the merit of actors, by their abilit) 7 to give 
with audible conformity, that same expression of the poet, 
which the soul of the hearer is whispering to itself. Such is 
the rule, which, in my early days of ignorance, but not of in- 
sensibility, set up this great Woman's voice as the mirror of 
poetic feeling ; in which one might recognize himself, and 
love the equal picture as his own. All that is smooth, and 
flexible, and various in intonation ; all that is impressive in 
force, and in long-drawn time ; all that is apt upon the counte- 
nance, and consonant in gesture, gave their united energy, and 
gracefulness and grandeur, to this one great model of ideal 
elocution. Hers was that height of excellence, which, defying 
mimickry, can be made imaginable only by being equalled. 

Such was my enthusiastic opinion, before a scrutiny into 
speech had developed a boundless scheme of criticism ; which 
while it admits that nature may hold some unrevealed power of 
producing occasional instances of rare accomplishment of 
voice ; yet assures us that nothing but the influence of some 



262 THE MEDIAN STRESS. 

system of principles, arising out of well observed instinct, can 
ever produce multiplied examples of excellence, or give to any 
one the perfection of art. There is a power in science which 
searches, discovers, amplifies, and completes ; and which all 
the strength of spontaneous effort can never reach. I do not 
wish to be asked, how this 'most noble mother of the world,'* 
with only those unwritten rules of genius, that still allowed 
her to incur the dangers of the scanty doctrines of her art — 
would be accounted by the side of another Siddons making her 
selections of sentiment and taste, from the familiar rudiments 
and measurable functions of the voice ; and able by the authori- 
ty of an unindulgent discipline to be a rational critic over her- 
self. Though I rely on the surpassing efficacy of scientific 
principles, still in the contentment of recollection, 1 would not 
wish to answer this question. 

The vision of the Great Actress is before me ! If I am be- 
set by an illusion which another hearing might dispel, I rejoice 
to think I can never hear her again. 



i nufcQ (9) Ql<(>» 



SECTION XXXVI. 



Of the Vanishing Stress. 



Our description of the concrete of speech represented it as 
formed by an initial fulness, and its gradual decrease. It may 
already have occurred to the reader, that the construction indi- 
cated by the term Vanishing Stress, annuls, in this case, the 

* I refer here, to the salutation of Coriolanus to Volumnia: for it is in this 
character Mrs. Siddons always comes upon rny memory ; embodying the pathos, 
the matron dignity and the indignation, together with the other moral solemnities 
of the scene of intercession in the Volscian camp. 



THE VANISHING STRESS. 263 

general law of the concrete. It is true it does. But 1 thought, 
the adopted term, even with this verbal contrariety, would be 
more immediately intelligible, if not more exactly significative 
of the function, than any other newly invented nomenclature. 
The vanishing stress does indeed exhibit a reversed progres- 
sion of force, by a gradual increase from the radical, to the ex- 
treme of the vanish. This mode of production must necessa- 
rily give something like an abrupt termination, with a fulness 
of sound, at the extremity of the concrete : for the description 
of the case affirms its gradual enlargement to the end. 

The peculiar vocal effect of the vanishing stress may be illus- 
trated by the natural function of Hiccough. I choose this mode 
of making the reader familiar with the perception, because the 
function has received, in this instance, but without attention to 
its construction, a conventional name, and because it may be 
readily imitated for the purpose of experiment. The hiccough, 
then, is produced by the gradual increase of the guttural sound, 
until it is suddenly obstructed by an occluded catch, somewhat 
resembling the element ' &,' or ' g.' If this mode of sound 
be compared with a single act of coughing, the difference be- 
tween the vanishing and the radical stress will be conspicuous. 
The hiccough, however, does not resemble the proper vanish- 
ing stress of speech in all points ; for this last function does 
not necessarily end like the hiccough, except the syllable 
which bears it is terminated by an abrupt element. The hic- 
cough may be made on all intervals of the scale. In ordinary 
cases, it assumes that of the second : but when it is attended 
with great distress, as sometimes happens in disease, it is heard 
through the interval of the semitone. 

The effect of th& vanishing stress may be perceived in the 
speech of the natives of Ireland ; many of whom employ it, 
in the form of the simple rise or fall, or wave, on all the prin- 
cipal words of a sentence. It is this function which produces 
that quick and peculiar run of syllables, heard in the earnest 
pronunciation of the lower orders of that people. 

The vanishing stress is practicable on each of the rising and 
falling intervals of the scale. When used on the wave, it must 
be understood as occurring on the last constituent. 

This stress being one of the modes of force, its operation con- 
sists in giving to the characteristics of the several intervals, a 



264 THE VANISHING STRESS. 

more attractive power over the ear, than belongs to their natural 
concretes. Thus in the second, which has no peculiar expres- 
sion, it only adds that Irish jerk which deforms without en- 
forcing speech. On the third, and fifth, and octave, it gives 
intensity to the spirit of interrogation. On the downward 
course of these intervals, it enhances the degree of surprise and 
positiveness ; and on the wave, adds power to the expressions 
which belong to its various constructions. 

The effect of the vanishing stress on a semitone, may be 
heard in the act of Sobbing. This is made on a guttural sound 
gradually increasing in force and terminated in some cases by 
an occluded catch. Now when the vanishing stress on the 
semitone is used in discourse, it is, as it were, a sobbing upon 
words ; and serves to mark intensively, the distressful charac- 
ter of the simple concrete. The expression of pain or grief 
may require enforcement, when uttered with that quickness of 
time which does not admit of the doubled influence of the 
semitone produced by the wave of this interval. This increased 
effect may be given to the simple movement in quick time, by 
the vanishing stress ; which brings out in high relief the di- 
mensions of the interval, and the mournful display of its ex- 
pression. 

Upon this subject it may be remarked in relation to all the 
intervals, that the nature of discourse occasionally requires so 
quick a time that only the simple rise or fall can be employed : 
and yet, it may be highly necessary to designate a given inter- 
val strongly and clearly. This can be accomplished by the 
vanishing stress. For a hasty utterance of complaint and in- 
terrogation, which has time for flight only in one direction, 
will, for the purpose of marking its several symbols on the 
ear, apply this terminative force to the simple rise or fall of 
the semitone, third, fifth, and octave. 

It was stated that the radical stress is effective, principally in 
distinguishing short quantities. On these the vanishing stress 
is not cognizable. It requires a longer time ; and its applica- 
tion thereon, gives an equal degree of force with the median 
stress : but it has much less dignity and grace than the gradual 
swell of this last named element. 



THE COMPOUND STRESS. 265 



SECTION XXXVII. 

Of the Compound Stress. 

Besides the perceptible function of stress, when laid ex- 
clusively on the beginning or middle, or end of the concrete, 
it is within the power of the cultivated and attentive ear, to 
recognize the abrupt opening of the radical, and the full ter- 
mination of the vanishing stress, when used in succession on the 
same syllable. The best reference I can make in illustration 
of this element, is to the vocal grace called a Shake : for I 
shall endeavor to show hereafter that the characteristic action 
of this grace consists in a rapid iteration of the concrete when 
impressed with both the radical and vanishing stresses. 

This compound stress, when applied to syllables of long 
quantity, may be used on the narrow intervals of the scale ; 
but it is more definitely audible on the wider spaces of the 
fifth and octave. It may likewise be executed on the various 
forms of the wave ; in which case the final stress is laid on the 
last constituent. 

After what has been said of the radical and the vanishing 
stress, of which this under consideration is but a compound, 
it is scarcely necessary to remark, that it affords means for ad- 
ding force to the representation of the sentiments indicated by 
its constituents when used singly on a syllable. And though 
the effect of the alternate radical and vanishing stress is beau- 
tifully exemplified in the shake of song, and may be made 
manifest in the speaking voice; yet this compound function 
can not, on a short quantity, be distinguished from the simple 
radical abruptness : nor indeed is there, in this case, time for 
its existence. 

Let us suppose that a syllable of long quantity conveys the 
sentiment of angry or authoritative inquiry ; and that the fifth, 
with protracted intonation, is the interval chosen for this in- 
terrogative. The sharpness of effort required here as the sym- 
2 I 



266 THE THOROUGH STRESS. 

bol of anger or authority, would be rightly represented by 
the radical stress ; whilst the full-marked extent of the in- 
terval under the increased force of the vanish, would give a 
corresponding energy and impressiveness to the interrogation. 
The compound stress is, however, by no means an agreeable 
mode of force. There is a snappishness in its intonation, 
which should always be avoided by a good reader, except on 
those rare occasions, that especially call for the peculiarity of 
its expression. 



SECTION XXXVIII. 

Of the Thorough Stress. 

By this mode of force in the construction of the concrete, 
we are to understand, a continuation of t$ie same full body of 
voice throughout its whole course. 

It may be readily distinguished from the median, the vanish- 
ing and the compound forms of stress, when these are set on 
long quantities ; and may therefore claim a separate notice in 
a philosophical analysis of speech. But I can not point out any 
peculiar expression in it, which is not conveyed by the com- 
pound stress, or by the radical when applied on short syllables. 

This Thorough force may be given to all the intervals of the 
scale ; and when spread over the wave, it is to be regarded as 
equalizing the stress throughout all its constituents. 



THE LOUD CONCRETE. 267 

SECTION XXXIX. 

Of the Loud Concrete. 

By the Loud Concrete, I mean that stress which distin- 
guishes a given syllable from adjacent ones ; the parts of the 
concrete still retaining the comparative structure of the radical 
and vanishing movement. It is, in short, what was called the 
natural concrete, magnified by force. It is not distinguishable 
as an element of stress, on a very short quantity; the radical 
stress being the proper mode of intension on such syllables. 

As far as 1 perceive, it has no peculiar quality of expression. 
It is introduced here, only because it will be referred to, in a 
future section, on accent. 

All the modes of stress which have thus been enumerated, 
may be applied to the various tremulous concretes, and to the 
tremulous wave. They give energy and variety to a tremor 
of the higher intervals, which serves for laughter, for interro- 
gation, and for emphasis : and to that of the semitone, which 
constitutes the function of crying, and of plaintiveness in 
speech. 



268 TIME OF THE CONCRETE, 

SECTION XL. 

Of the Time of the Concrete. 

The radical and vanishing movement was represented as 
having an equable continuation of time, throughout its progress ; 
and as having thereby a marked distinction from the varied 
proportions of the radical and vanish, in Recitative and Song. 

The purposes of expression sometimes demand a change of 
this equability of the concrete, into a quicker utterance of its 
beginning, or middle, or end. This condition of time is 
closely connected with the application of the different modes 
of stress : for it is difficult to give stress without running into 
quickness of time ; and it is as difficult to give quickness of 
time, without marking the rapid part of the concrete with 
stress. The connate relation of these functions is most con- 
spicuous in the radical stress ; for its sudden burst is necessa- 
rily followed by a momentary quickness of utterance. The 
median and the vanishing stress, when strongly emphatic, 
likewise carry with them a rapid run of time : for there is in 
this forcible execution of these last named functions, an en- 
deavor to reach, as far as can be on an unbroken concrete, the 
explosive nature of the radical. These fitful gusts of breath, 
if 1 may so call the quick transits through the radical, median, 
and vanishing places, may be employed, like the stress itself 
which respectively accompanies them, on all the intervals of 
the scale, and at the same places of the, wave on which the 
stress is applied. There may also be a compound quick time 
of the concrete, attendant on the compound stress, in the pro- 
longed movements of speech. 

On the whole, regarding the time of the concrete separately 
from stress, I can not recommend it as a matter of any impor- 
tance in the work of expression. I promised to analyze speech. 
This quickness was perceived ; and 1 have therefore transient- 
ly noticed it. 



THE ASPIRATION. 269 



SECTION XL1. 
Of the Aspiration. 

We have thus far learned that five accidents of sound, — ■ 
Quality, Time, Pitch, Abruptness, and Force, together with 
the absence of all impression in the Pause, do by their separate 
and their mingled influences, produce the varied efforts of 
speech already described. 

The works of nature are cunning patterns of combination : 
and the function which is now to be considered, will make a 
new disclosure of the means for diversifying the effect of these 
elementary agents. The subject of this section does properly 
belong to the head of quality of voice. But since it has re- 
ceived a place and name among the alphabetic elements, and 
has peculiar properties, I give it here a separate discussion. 1 
shall therefore endeavour to show that the element symbolized 
by the letter 'h,' or, as it is called, the Apiration, has emi- 
nent powers of force and expression. 

By calling ' h' a mere breathing, some systematic authors 
have imagined they insure the right to reject this element from 
the alphabet. Let it be said, in truth, that the aspiration is 
suited only to near audience ; and wants the fine vocal quali- 
ties of the tonics. But whilst ' harrow' and ' arrow' shall owe 
the difference of their meanings respectively to the presence 
and absence of the element, that breathing will fulfil the pur- 
pose of articulation, though it may not conform to the full 
definition of it. Notwithstanding, the defects of the aspira- 
tion can not be denied, under the cold measurement of or- 
thoepy, it is still pre-eminently entitled to notice as a power- 
ful agent in oratorical expression. 

The element ' h' is slightly susceptible of pitch and abrupt- 
ness ; but it admits freely of time. Through the exercise of 
this function it must be redeemed from an alleged insignificance, 
by furnishing the expressive interjection of Sighing. It admits, 
to a certain degree, of the variations of force ; exhibiting most 



270 THE ASPIRATION. 

remarkably, under the calls of emphasis, the median stress. In 
uncompounded words it is almost exclusively found at their 
beginning ; where its force may be most effectually exerted. 
This element is frequently a constituent of those words which 
have universally an energetic meaning, as ' havoc/ < horror' 
and ' huzza ;' and it exists in most of the interjections in all 
languages. 

Besides the abovementioned instances of its expression, 
where common orthography has given it a literal place, it is 
in certain cases of emphasis engrafted on the several tonics and 
subtonics. For though the aspiration, as we have seen, does 
serve the purpose of a distinct constituent of words ; yet it may 
be severally joined to all those elements which have a vo- 
cality, without destroying their individual characters. The 
pure quality of the tonic is indeed impaired by the union ; for 
the excellency of this species of element was negatively de- 
fined, by declaring its freedom from aspiration : but the loss 
of purity is supplied by other advantages of the association. 

There is some inexplicable mechanism of the organs of 
speech, by which a strenuous pronunciation of the tonic ele- 
ments becomes semi-aspirated. If we suppose the word ' hor- 
rible' to be deprived of its aspirate, it will be found impossible 
to give the fragment 'orrible,' in prolonged and energetic ex- 
clamation, without restoring, in a great degree; the abstracted 
element. How far this unavoidable combination operated to 
introduce the aspirated element, for the expression of the force 
of instinctive animal feeling, which may have prevailed at what 
is called, the origin of language, I leave to the everlasting dis- 
putes of those who look for truth in fancy, and who tease 
themselves in the pursuit of undiscoverable things. 

Vociferations on syllables which do not orthographically 
contain the aspiration, nevertheless assume it, and corrupt 
thereby that pure quality of the tonics which characterizes their 
abated utterance. Nay, in the excessive force of such exer- 
tion of the organs, the voice is sometimes lost, from the atonic 
aspiration overruling the tonic vocality. The nature of the 
conjoined functions, thus exhibited in the vehement force of 
the voice, may be illustrated by the subtonics 'y-e' and i w-o i ' 
which are respectively a compound of the aspiration with the 
monothings i ee-Y and 'oo-ze.' The other three monothongs 






THE ASPIRATION. 271 

{ e-rr' 'e-nd' 'i-n,' when united with the aspiration, become 
obscurely the basis of the several other subtonics. And though 
the subtonics are thus supposed to be, in a manner, formed by 
the mingling of vocalities with aspiration, they are yet capable 
of a further addition, for the purpose of force or oratorical ex- 
pression. 

The diphthongal tonics do not receive the aspiration with 
the same effect as the monothongs : since there is something 
in the nature of the diphthongs which prevents as great a 
change upon them as takes place on the monothongs, by a 
union with the aspiration. 

It was shown formerly that whispering, which is only the 
articulated mode of aspiration, has its pitch formed upon a suc- 
cession of different alphabetic elements. Now whatever may 
be its difficulties of intonation as a simple breathing, it does 
when joined with the tonics move through all the intervals of 
the scale, and take on every form of stress. 

In order to show how far this element assists in the opera- 
tions of speech let us keep in mind what was said above, on 
the spontaneous connexion between a vehement exertion of the 
voice and its aspiration ; and consider, further, the two follow- 
ing forms of expression. 

There is a sort of facetious comment of surprise and incre- 
dulity, consisting of an effort of aspiration modified by the 
tongue and lips, and having all the qualities of whistling except 
shrillness. The movement of this aspirated interjection is that 
of an unequal direct wave : the first constituent being a tone 
or higher interval, according to the spirit of the expression ; 
and the second a descent to the utmost audible pitch of the 
breath. 

The other effort of aspiration to which I alluded, is made by 
the larynx alone. It is the function of Sighing : and its pitch 
is sometimes the simple rising, but more frequently the falling 
concrete through a second or wider interval, according to the 
intensity of the feeling which prompts it. This is well known 
to be the symbol of distress, grief and anxiety ; and of fatigue 
and exhaustion, both of body and mind. Now since these 
different cases include the general powers of expression, in the 
simple and natural aspiration, we can therefrom infer what will 



272 THE ASPIRATION. 

be the effect when this breathed element is joined with the 
vocality of speech. 

It may seem an exception to the consistencies of nature, that 
a quality of voice, which, under the form of a whisper is the 
symbol of the desire of concealment, should be found united 
with the most forcible exertion of the organs. Such, however, 
is the fact ; for when the aspiration is conjoined with loudness, 
in some of the vehement modes of stress, it becomes a sign of 
the highest vocal violence. Its union therefore with any rising 
or falling interval of the scale, gives increase to the expressive 
power of that interval ; and if I do not mistake, adds the sen- 
timent of eagerness, or sneer to those intonations, which, in 
their purely vocal form, severally convey surprise, interroga- 
tion, irony, and command. 

Should this aspiration be given with an abatement of voice, 
thereby approximating towards a whisper or a sigh, it produces 
a difference of expression, according to the extent of its pitch. 
When the second or higher interval of the scale is employed, 
it becomes the eminent symbol of earnestness or of apprehen- 
sion. Thus, if the following lines be pronounced with a pure 
vocality of the elements, the expression will fall short of the 
feeling of the speaker : 



Hah! dost thou not see, by the moon's trembling light, 
Directing his steps, where advances a knight, 

His eye big with vengeance and fate! 



Nor would the point be gained, if the reading should be 
characterized by an aspirated vociferation. But if the utter- 
ance is reduced in force, and at the same time aspirated, the 
earnestness of attention and appealing interrogation, becomes 
immediately obvious in this created huskiness of voice. 

When an abated voice is aspirated on the tremulous move- 
ment of the second or higher interval, it may convey the sen- 
timent of fear. When this abatement is aspirated in a simple 
rise or a wave of the semitone, it is, as it were, a borrowing 
from the sigh ; and thus gives intensity to the plaintiveness or 
distress which belongs to the simple vocality of the semitonic 
movement. But when the tremulous intonation is superadded 
to the aspirated semitone, the voice exerts its ultimate means, 






THE EMPHATIC VOCULE. 273 

for marking the deepest sadness within the limits of crying and 
tears. 

Aspiration when combined with the different forms of stress, 
and with guttural emphasis to be described presently, espe- 
cially expresses contempt, and the like sentiments : hence the 
ability to embue nearly every interval of intonation with that 
expression. Even the simple movements which indicate 
surprise, inquiry and emphatic declaration, may, by this means, 
be made contemptuous : but the sentiment is more strongly 
marked when the aspiration is applied to the forms of the 
wave ; the bearing of scorn being most conspicuous on its une- 
qual structure. 



— ~»>+® © ©<4M«~ 



SECTION XL11. 



Of the Emphatic Vocule. 



In that section where the elements are enumerated, we 
learned, that when the articulative occlusion, by which the 
abrupt elements are made, is removed, there is a slight momen- 
tary issue of voice which completes the structure of these 
sounds. This was called the Vocule. Like all other voices it 
is susceptible of force. Its higher degrees of stress constitute 
the element named at the head of this section. The emphatic 
vocule marks great energy of sentiment ; and naturally fol- 
lows those words which close with one of the abrupt elements. 

Three of the vocules are vocai, and three aspirated. The 
vocules of ' k' < p' and ' t,' which constitute the last class, are 
often changed from an aspiration to vocality, in an attempt to 
give stronger emphasis to their termination. No other than 
the most vehement feeling will justify the use of this element 
of force, at the end of an emphatic word 5 and the most cautious 
2K 



274 THE EMPHATIC VOGULE. 

management is necessary in order to prevent its forcible utter- 
ance from having the effect of rant or affectation. 

It was stated formerly that when an abrupt element precedes 
a tonic, the vocule is lost in the sound of the tonic, which in 
this case issues, as it were, directly from the abrupt element. 
Thus in the word ' light,' the vocule is distinctly heard at its 
termination : but if C V immediately precedes the tonic 'i' as 
in « tile' the vocule is lost, and ' t' seems to be merely an abrupt 
commencement of the sound of 'i.' This is the natural and 
proper mode of coalescence, except the abrupt element termi- 
nates a word. For in this case a junction of the vocule with 
a following tonic may confuse pronunciation by destroying 
that clear limit which should give a separated individuality to 
every word of a sentence. This fault, is sometimes even de- 
signedly assumed, in order to remedy a want of physical 
energy in pronunciation. Persons who are called upon to give 
the utmost sharpness to their accents, and who have not the 
practical skill to explode the voice suddenly on a tonic, avail 
themselves of the facility of bursting out from an abrupt ele- 
ment, into the tonic of a succeeding word. Thus if the phrase 
1 bad angels,' should require force, either for emphasis or for a 
distant auditory, it would, with a view to this explosion, be 
pronounced ' bad-dangels.' But as the arrangement of ele- 
ments is a casual thing, it must happen that the same word will 
occur in discourse, both with and without a preceding abrupt 
element : and besides, the common exertion of force does not 
require this coalescence. These circumstances will prevent 
the effect of the junction from becoming familiar to the ear, 
and thus passing for a proper and constant character of the 
word. A forcible pronunciation according to this method, 
will, therefore, in some cases, create mistakes in the sound of 
words ; and lead in most instances, to that momentary hesita- 
tion which is incompatible with an exact perception of oral 
discourse. Let the phrase ' music sweet art' be pronounced in 
this manner, and the combination will present an image both 
ludicrous and contradictory. 

If what has been said, on the subject of distinct articulation, 
as effected by the full and clearly formed radical stress, be 
thoroughly applied, the designed purpose of this junction of 
tonic with abrupt elements may be accomplished without in- 



4 

THE GUTTURAL EMPHASIS. 275 

terfering with the perception of a clear outline in the boundary 
of words. For this demarcation is necessary towards that, 
distinct and deliberate utterance which characterizes the dig- 
nified departments of an exalted elocution. 

In the rapid energy of colloquial speech, and in the passion- 
ate haste of elevated delivery, this coalescence of the elements 
is more liable to occur : nor in these instances can it always 
be avoided. 






SECTION XL11I. 
Of the Guttural Emphasis. 

In speaking of the mechanism of the voice, it was shown 
that the retraction of the root of the tongue, together with a 
closure of the pharynx, produces what seems to be a contact 
of the sides of the vocal canal above the glottis, and thus gives 
rise to a harsh vibration, from the gush of air through the 
straitened passage. The peculiar sound is made on the tonic 
and subtonic elements, the varieties of which may be distin- 
guished, notwithstanding their combination with this grating 
noise. 1 have called this function of the voice, the Guttural 
emphasis on account of its apparent causal mechanism, and 
from its being a forcible expression of the sentiment which 
dictates it. 

This guttural element is practicable on all the intervals of 
the scale : and it adds to their respective characteristics, its 
own peculiar expression. This expression consists in the 
strongest degree of contempt, disgust, aversion or execration ; 
and these sentiments are most strongly marked on the intona- 
tions of the wave. 

When this guttural grating is given with the exploded radi- 
cal stress, it makes the speaker himself feel, in its disruption 



276 OF ACCENT. 

from his organs, that the effect must spread widely around him : 
and whilst it assaults the air with its percussion, that it must 
break through the ear, into the understanding and heart of an 
audience. 



Having thus described the particular species into which the 
generic affections of Pitch and Force are subdivided ; and 
having marked out some of the occasions for their application 
in speech, we are now prepared to consider the special points 
of these functions, comprehended under the terms Accent and 
Emphasis. This detail will form the subjects of the two fol- 
lowing sections. 






SECTION XL1V, 

Of Accent. 

Accent is defined in philology, to be — the distinguishing of 
one syllable of a word from others, by the application of a 
greater force of voice upon it. This is a true, but limited ac- 
count of accent : for it will be found on analysis that the ac- 
centual characteristic consists in a syllable being brought under 
the special notice of the ear. This may be done by force ; but 
it will be shown presently that it may be likewise effected 
through other audible means. 

No word when uttered singly, except as an ellipse, conveys 
any intelligible meaning. Accent, which is one of the quali- 
ties of individual words, can not therefore embrace what is pro- 
perly called expression. When the conspicuousness of a syl- 
lable, whether made by force or other means, carries with it 
a remarkable meaning or a feeling, it constitutes the function 
called Emphasis. 

If the difference, thus stated, between accent and emphasis 






OF ACCENT. 277 

is accurately pointed out, Accent may be defined in general 
terms, to be — the inexpressive distinction made between the 
syllables of a word. This simply audible prominence may be 
effected by the radical stress, — the loud concrete, and — a longer 
quantity on the noted syllable. 

In the first place. The radical stress constitutes the accent 
on immutable syllables. The word ' victory' has three short 
syllables, and the accent on the first consists of this mode of 
stress : the brevity of the syllable not admitting the perception 
of a continuation of loudness. If therefore any distinction is 
to be made by force, the syllable must burst with the requisite 
fulness into a momentary existence. The accent may be trans- 
ferred to either of the other syllables, by giving the highest 
degree of abruptness respectively to each. 

Secondly. Syllables which have length sufficient to render 
the radical and vanishing movement cognizable, admit of ac- 
centual distinction by the loud concrete. In the word <Pad- 
ington,' the three syllables are of moderate length, and about 
equal. As the first has quantity sufficient to prevent the ne- 
cessity of adopting the explosive radical stress, its high-relief 
in pronunciation can be brought out by the loud concrete 
alone. In this example the accent may be easily transferred to 
either of the other syllables, by a slight increase of force : and 
it is to be remarked, of syllables to which the loud concrete is 
applicable, that they readily receive at the same time an addi- 
tion of the radical stress. But the former mode of distinction 
being adequate to the inexpressive denoting of accent, there is 
no call for the further help of the radical abruptness, except on 
occasions which require the expressive distinction of emphasis. 

Thirdly. When the time or quantity of one syllable ex- 
ceeds the rest, that syllable readily receives the accent, and 
even when unassisted by loudness or abruptness sometimes ne- 
cessarily assumes it. If the word 'victory' be pronounced 
with the usual degree of radical stress, on the first syllable, 
and the second be subsequently prolonged as if written < vic- 
toe-ry,' the distinguishing impression of the accent, which in 
this case may be called the Temporal accent, will be post- 
poned to that second syllable ; even though it be uttered with 
comparative feebleness, and with all possible omission of ab- 
ruptness. Words which consist of syllables of equal time, such 



278 OP ACCENT. 

as 'needful,' 'empire,' 'farewell' and 'amen,' easily undergo 
a change of accent, merely by a slight addition to the length of 
either syllable. When the word ' heaven' is pronounced cor- 
rectly as if written 'hev-vn,' the longer quantity of the first 
syllable assumes the accent ; but when divided into two equal 
syllables as in 'hev-ven,' the place of the accent is doubtful ; 
or the word may be said to have two equal accents. 

These are the .three modes of accentual distinction : accent 
being the prominent and fixed feature which serves to identify 
a word, without enlivening its utterance by any peculiar sense 
or expression. Now as these means are sufficient to give an 
importance to syllables, without conveying at the same time an 
especial meaning, which is the design of emphasis, we may see 
the line of separation between these functions. It is true that 
emphasis, which employs all the elements of expression, can 
not exist without accent ; for the emphatic is always the ac- 
cented syllable : and the expressive power of pitch, time and 
stress must give to the emphatic syllable that attractive influence 
over the ear which constitutes the essential agency of accent. 

I have pointed out only the radical stress and the loud con- 
crete as the causes of accent derived from force ; since the me- 
dian, the vanishing, the compound, and the thorough, are more 
commonly used as the means of expressive stress : and in the 
plain example of a single word, surely no one does employ 
these last named elements. It is proper to remark further, that 
although the modes of accent have been represented as inde- 
pendent of pitch, still they do not exclude the use of certain of 
its inexpressive forms. Thus the radical stress and the loud 
concrete do move rapidly through a tone ; and the temporal ac- 
cent when* very remarkable, generally takes the form of the 
direct or inverted wave of the same interval. For this, as was 
shown in its proper place, gives dignity to utterance by means 
of its its deliberate movement : yet has no peculiar expression 
incompatible with the simple diatonic melody. 

Since it appears that the use of the three modes of accent, is 
in a considerable degree governed by the time of syllables, it 
is desirable to know the circumstances which render these 
modes severally applicable ; make them easily changeable ; 
and fix the preponderance of their influence. 

The temporal qualities of syllables were arranged under 



OP ACCENT. 279 

three classes. — The Immutable, Mutable, and Indefinite. The 
radical stress is the means of distinguishing immutable sylla- 
bles. The loud concrete may be given to the mutable : since 
they have sufficient length for the display of force without the 
necessity of an abrupt explosion. Indefinite syllables, by their 
capability of prolongation, admit of the attractive distinction 
of the temporal accent. But in speaking of the time of sylla- 
bles, it was said that those of indefinite quantity are sometimes 
pronounced equally short with the immutable. Thus, ' lo,' in 
'loquacity,' and 'lo' used as an emphatic interjection, exem- 
plify the extremes of duration. Hence it follows that the ra- 
dical stress may sometimes be used on an indefinite syllable, in 
its shortest time : as it is in the accent of the word ' illative.' 

In some words, consisting of a long and a short syllable, the 
accent of stress and of quantity readily give way to each other, 
at the option of utterance. Thus in the noun 'perfume,' the 
length of the last syllable yields to the stress on the first. But 
in the verb 'perfume,' the stress as easily gives way to the 
temporal accent on ' fume.' 

Of all the modes by which one accented syllable of a word is 
embossed upon the ear, if I may so speak, in higher relief than 
others, the most common is that of the temporal impression. 1 
mean, that in the English language the accented syllable in 
words is generally the longest : and the excess of length alone, 
without any apparent radical abruptness, or increase of force on 
the whole concrete, above the neighbouring syllables, is suffi- 
cient to answer all the purposes of accentual distinction. The 
majority of writers, without sufficient examination, have re- 
solved all accents into excess of force. 

In as much as the radical accent belongs to short syllables ; 
and as the loud concrete may be arbitrarily applied on all but 
short syllables, it may be inquired — which of the modes has 
the most influence in pronunciation, or has a controlling or ex- 
cluding power. In most words, this predominant influence is 
readily mutable, by an increased application of the means 
which distinguishes each mode: as in the words ' commemora- 
tion,' ' perlieu,' ' Cordova,' ' Ontario," the accent, of whatever 
kind, being in these instances as easily practicable on one syl- 
lable as on another. But in words having such a temporal ar- 
rangement as occurs in 'beguile,' 'indeed,' 'delay,' and 're- 



280 



OF ACCENT. 



venge,' the temporal accent can not be deprived of its supre- 
macy, by a radical stress on the first syllable, except through 
an irksome effort of the organs in exploding the first, and ab- 
breviating the last. For it is sometimes necessary to reduce 
the quantity of one syllable, in order that the radical stress may 
take the lead on another. The accent of the word * Emanuel,' 
lies in the quantity of the second syllable. Scarcely any force 
of abruptness can transfer the accent to <e,' whilst 'man' re- 
tains its length. When this is shortened, the first syllable 'e,' 
may, through a strong radical stress, be made the leading ac- 
cent ; but the word will scarcely be recognized in the change. 

In regarding the circumstances of accent, it ought to be borne 
in mind that the difference in kind of the elementary sounds, may 
in some cases, be mistaken for a difference in force ; since to 
many an ear, ' ee-Y and e «-le' might seem to be surpassed by 
i ou-x > and ' a-we.' • 

It is also to be remarked, that there are different degrees of 
susceptibility among the elements, in receiving the accent. 
The tonics most easily and conspicuously take on each of its 
three modes. The abrupt elements assist the explosive effort 
of the tonics ; but are utterly incapable of the loud concrete, 
and the temporal accent. The subtonics have little or no pow- 
er, under the radical stress ; but accomplish all the purposes of 
quantity : whilst the atonies are feeble instruments of the ac- 
centual distinction, whether its aim be at time or stress. 

The impressive agency of accent on the ear, is fixed by the 
orthoepy of the English language, on one or two of the sylla- 
bles of all words which have more than one. It is a great 
source of variety in speech ; is the principal instrument of our 
versification ; and when skilfully disposed, by the adjustment 
of a delicate ear, produces, with the assistance of quantity, the 
rythmus of harmonious prose. 

Some grammarians and rhetoricians, with whom the intelli- 
gent Mr. Sheridan is to be ranked, have set forth a rule, that 
when the accent falls on a consonant, the syllable is short : and 
long when on a vowel. Whilst I was at school, I could not 
understand this great prosodial principle: now, 1 perceive it 
has no meaning. For if accent be variously produced by radi- 
cal stress, the loud concrete, and by quantity, a distinction of 
literal place can not give the variety which the rule supposes. 






OF ACCENT. 281 

The abrupt stress will always be made on a tonic (or vowel), 
notwithstanding the syllable may be opened on a preceding 
subtonic or abrupt element. The loud concrete must be made 
on all the elements of the syllable without distinction : and the 
accentual impression by quantity must consist of the united 
time of tonics and subtonics, when the syllable is constructed 
with these different elements. But all this is only a denial of 
the truth of the rule, on the grounds of the phenomena of ac- 
cent which have been pointed out in this section. Let us see 
how the principle corresponds with the fact of pronunciation. 
In the word 'action,' the abrupt stress is on a vowel, (tonic) 
and yet the syllable is short : and in the word 'revenge,' the 
greatest impression is from the quantity of the subtonics (con- 
sonants,) and yet the syllable is long. Language is full of like 
examples; and from the illustration they furnish of the nature 
of accent, we may learn that the time of syllables bears no cer- 
tain relation to stress, nor other modes of the accentual agency. 
The prevalent error on this subject must be ascribed to the gen- 
eral cause of all errors, — The want of observation at first, and 
the assumption of notions to prevent observation ever after. 

Mr. Walker has given a theory of accent, in which he makes 
it dependent on the rising and falling inflection, as indefinitely 
described by him. If the preceding history of intonation is 
true, and if it has been clearly comprehended, the reader must 
at once conclude that accent can have no fixed relationship to a 
rise of the voice or to its fall : for it may be made with every 
essential characteristic under either of these opposite move- 
ments ; their junction into the wave ; and under all the change- 
able phrases of melody. 

Much has been said by authors on the subject of accent. 
But I began this analysis of the human voice, with a resolution 
to speak after nature ; not after men. 

2L 



2S2 OF EMPHASIS. 

SECTION XLV. 

Of Emphasis. 

That function which Rhetoricians call Emphasis, is defined 
to be — a stress of voice on one or more words of a sentence, 
distinguishing them by intensity or peculiarity of meaning. 
Some writers, without seeming to care much about the point, 
indefinitely attribute to emphasis, a characteristic intonation : 
and Mr. Walker imagined he specified his idea of 'tone' 
throughout all its conditions, when he made an erroneous ap- 
plication of the upward and downward inflection. 

But authority aside ; let us try to do something to the pur- 
pose, by observing the thing. 

It was stated that accent is the fixed but inexpressive dis- 
tinction of syllables by quantity and stress : alike both in place 
and nature, whether the words are pronounced singly from the 
columns of a vocabulary, or connectedly in the series of dis- 
course. 

Emphasis may be defined to be the — expressive but occa- 
sional distinction of a syllable, and consequently of the whole - 
word, by one or more of the specific modes of Time, Quality, 
Force and Pitch. 

This notable function belongs essentially to the current of 
discourse ; but it may be employed on solitary interjections, 
and on single words which stand as elliptical sentences. It will 
appear hereafter, that emphasis is no more than a generic term, 
including the specification of the uses of every accident of the 
voice for the purpose of enforcing sentiment and thought. 

The conditions of sound which constitute accent, being in- 
cluded among the enumerated causes of emphatic distinction, 
it may be inferred, that in these particulars, accent and em- 
phasis can not differ from each other. The quantity, radical 
stress, and loud concrete, employed as the means of emphasis, 
have indeed the same elemental nature, as in accentual agency, 
but their purposes in the former case invest them with that ex- 
pression which constitutes the characteristic of emphasis. 






THE RADICAL EMPHASIS. 283 

For a detailed account of the particular occasions of emphasis 
the reader is referred to libraries. They contain many rheto- 
rical works, setting- forth this part of the subject, with compre- 
hensiveness, perspicuity and taste. It is the aim of this essay 
rather to point out and to measure the vocal material of empha- 
sis. 

Emphasis as was stated above, produces its effect upon the 
ear, by means of the quality and time of sound, the modes of 
stress, and the varied intervals of intonation. The particular 
enumeration of these means will be given under the following 
heads. 



Of the Radical Emphasis. 

When an immutable syllable bears the accent of a word 
which is remarkable by sense, sentiment or antithesis, the au- 
dible distinction can be made only in three ways : by quality 
of voice ; a wide change in the phrase of melody ; and the ab- 
rupt enforcement of the radical stress. The two former modes 
of emphasis on short syllables, will be noticed in their proper 
places. The last is here illustrated. 

And with perpetual inroads to alarm, 
Though inaccessible, his fatal throne; 
Which, if not rictory, is yet revenge. 

If the strongly contrasted feature of the word ' victo^/isnot 
represented by guttural emphasis ; or by aspiration, or some 
other available quality ; or if it does not receive the peculiar co- 
loring, effected by a change of radical pitch upward or downward 
through the skip of a third, fifth, or octave — If, I say, these 
are not used, the syllable ' vie' must be raised into importance 
by means of the sharp radical stress : at least no other can be 
operative whilst the syllable is limited to its natural quantity. 

It is true, even an immutable time, as formerly said, may 
be carried rapidly through any interval of the scale ; still if 
this rapid movement is not joined with the radical change, it 
does not deserve to be taken into account in this case. 

Although the radical distinction is here spoken of as appli- 



284 THE MEDIAN EMPHASIS. 

cable to immutable syllables : it is plain from its nature, that 
it may be laid on those of indefinite time. But since these 
admit of the more agreeable modes derived from intonation, 
they less frequently require the strong explosion of the radical. 
This emphasis is the symbol of sentiments of anger, vio- 
lence, and energy of all kinds ; and is the common mode of 
enforcement, whatever is the time of the syllable, when the 
spirit of discourse directs a rapid utterance. 



Of the Median Emphasis. 

The prominent display of the sense of a word, by a gradual 
increase and subsequent diminution of voice, can be effected 
only on syllables of indefinite time. It gives an importance 
equal to that of the radical stress, but it exhibits the element 
of force in an aspect of greater smoothness, dignity and grace. 
In the following sentence, the word l sole' contains a senti- 
ment of warm and serious admiration, which is finely set forth 
by means of this emphasis. 



Wonder not sov'reign Mistress, if perhaps 
Thou canst, who art sole wonder! 



Though the median mode of force might be executed on the 
simple rise and fall of intervals, when considerably protracted; 
yet it is most frequently made on the wave. In the present 
case the intonation of the word < sole' is through the wave of 
the second ; the swell being at the junction of its two con- 
stituents. 

The reader must bear in mind, that in assigning the mode 
of stress to this and the preceding examples, I have been 
governed by the principles of speech laid down in this 
volume ; and shall continue to apply them in illustrating all 
the other forms of emphasis included under this section : for 
if these examples be read in any of those various ways which 
result from spontaneous attempts in elocution, I shall in all 
probability be misunderstood. On this ground I would allot 
to the lines above quoted, that plain but deeply respectful 
character which belongs to the utterance of protracted quan- 



THE VANISHING EMPHASIS. 285 

tities in the diatonic melody ; giving to the emphatic syllable 
the importance of greater time ; and smoothly enhancing it by 
the swell of the median stress. 



Of the Vanishing Emphasis. 

The words which bear this mode of stress are characterized 
by a degree of violence, nearly equal to that which was said to 
belong to the radical emphasis. Why then are they distin- 
guished from each other by name ? — The radical is percepti- 
ble on immutable syllables; — the vanishing can not be recog- 
nized upon them. Some extent of quantity is required for its 
display : and though the sentiment of quick energy, that 
prompts it, generally appropriates it to a simple concrete, 
which has just sufficient time to admit of its application, still 
it is sometimes effectively made on the utmost extension of 
the single movement or the wave. 

In the following examples this inversion of the natural con- 
crete, may be employed as the symbol of quick impatience in 
the one case, and of threatening revenge in the other. 

Oh ye Gods! ye Gods! must I endure all this"! 



Oh ! that I had him, 
With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe, 
To use my lawful sword. 

If the words here marked in italics, be pronounced with 
the vanishing stress, they will exhibit that Irish provincialism, 
which was said to characterize in a degree, this species of in- 
tonation. 

This form of stress is often used for the hasty energy of a 
question. For since the wider spaces of the scale are the 
symbols of interrogation, the reach of the interval is more 
clearly impressed by this full and emphatic boundary, than by 
the feebler termination of the natural vanish. 

Perhaps a cause of the peculiar expression of the vanishing 
emphasis, may be found in this, — From the ordinary habit of 
the voice in the concrete, it is difficult to produce a final ful- 



286 THE COMPOUND EMPHASIS. 

ness and force, without giving a rapidity of time to the exe- 
cution : and this adapts it to the active sentiment, it is em- 
ployed to represent. 



Of the Compound Emphasis. 

A degree of emphatic distinction by stress, stronger than 
that of any of the preceding modes may be applied to syllables 
of indefinite time ; for these, under the direction of vehement 
feeling, may receive their force from both the radical and 
vanishing stress : as in the following urgent call. 

Arm warriors arm for fight, the foe at hand, 
Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit 
This day. 

The imperative words here marked in italics, require the 
use of this double form of stress. It is however more par- 
ticularly appropriate to the forcible expression of interro- 
gative sentiments. The reason of this is given in the thirty- 
seventh section ; and I here cite an example, from the scene 
of Hamlet's violence towards Laertes, at the grave of 
Ophelia. 

Dost thou come here to whine ? 

To outface me by leaping in her grave 1 

The intense spirit of these questions calls for the Thorough 
interrogative intonation ; and the emphatic importance of the 
word < whine,' requires the rising octave with the compound 
stress upon it. For thus the radi-cal abruptness on 'i' sets 
forth the threatening rage of the prince, whilst the vanishing 
stress on ' n' conspicuously denotes the inquiry, by marking 
the extent of the interrogative interval. 

This is not the place to speak of the aspiration which may 
be joined with the compound stress, for the expression of that 
contempt or scorn which the question may contain. 

On the whole, I confess that the discrimination of this mode 
of emphasis, in the current of pronunciation, is not so easy, as 
that of the preceding. Still it does exist as an element of 



THE THOROUGH EMPHASIS. 287 

force. Its effect is peculiar to itself: and by deliberate ana- 
lysis is clearly resolvable into the above named constituents. 



Of the Thorough Emphasis. 

In detailing the assignable forms of force, I gave those of 
the thorough stress, and the loud concrete, as distinguishable 
from the rest and from each other. 

But I do not feel disposed to insist upon the importance of 
these distinctions, for the practical purposes of elocution. 
They exist however, and exert their influence upon the ear, 
and understanding. Yet they are not either in nature or 
degree, so distinguishable from the radical and the compound 
stress, and from each other, as to require the special exempli- 
fication which has been made of those other elements. Any 
peculiarity which may be found in the two functions under 
consideration, is relative to the time of syllables : for when a 
syllable is not so short as to require the emphasis of the radi- 
cal stress, nor of sufficient length to admit of the protracted 
modes of force, the required distinction may be effected by 
the loud concrete : as in the marked syllable below. 

This knows my Punisher: therefore as far 
From granting he, as I from begg'mg peace. 



Of the Aspirated Emphasis. 

In the section on aspiration, one of the expressive effects of 
that element, was shown in the earnestness that it spread over 
a whole sentence to which it was applied. But the same ex- 
pression is sometimes carried in a single word ; thus constitut- 
ing the aspirated emphasis. Many words claim this emphasis 
from the essential energy of their meaning ; and these, in 
some cases, have the literal symbol of aspiration, as ' havoc,' 
'horror,' 'huzza.' A similar remark may be made with re- 
gard to some of the interjections. I need not quote instances 
of aspirated utterance in the exclamations of passion, nor in 
the pure breathing of a sigh : the pages of the drama are full 
of examples. 



288 THE ASPIRATED EMPHASIS. 

In the following dialogue from Julius Caesar, the effect of 
the aspiration, in marking an earnest sentiment, is sufficiently 
obvious, on the word ' fear,' which is set in italics. 



Brutus. What means this shouting ^ I do fear, the people 

Choose Csesar for their king. 
Cassius. Ay, do you fear it 1 

Then must I think you would not have it so. 

And again, in the tent scene, the earnest repugnance of 
Cassius is manifested in the aspiration of the word ' chastise- 
ment.' 

Brutus. The name of Cassius honors this corruption, 

And chastisement does therefore hide his head. 
Cassius. Chastisement ! 



If the aspiration is combined with the vanishing stress on a 
simple concrete, or on any of the forms of the wave, it com- 
municates an expression of sneer, contempt, or scorn. 

The aspiration may be applied to syllables of every variety 
of time ; to all the modes of force ; and to all intervals of in- 
tonation, i 



Of the Emphatic Vocule. 

When an emphatic word terminates with an abrupt ele- 
ment, and is followed by a pause, that slight issue of sound 
which we have called the Vocule, generally receives a con- 
tinuation of force from the emphatic word : and this, by its 
extraordinary increase, becomes the mark of high vocal ex- 
citement. 

There are, some occasions on which this element may be 
used, with a view to press into a syllable all the power of 
emphasis. But it comes so close to affectation, that I long 
hesitated about its classification, as a fault, or an assistant en- 
forcement of speech. 

1 will not say absolutely, it should be heard in the following 
lines, from the close of the third scene in the third act of 
Othello. But if the word 'hate,' be pronounced with the 









THE GUTTURAL EMPHASIS. 289 

force required by the sentiments of the Moor, the emphatic 
vocule will be very apt to follow the organic opening of the 
atonic abrupt element. 

Yield up, O love, thy crown, and hearted throne 
To tyrannous hate ! swell, bosom, with thy fraught. 



Of the Guttural Emphasis. 

The sentiments of disgust, aversion, execration, and horror, 
give their expression to an emphatic word, by joining the pe- 
culiar-quality of sound, here named, to other modes of dis- 
tinction. It is most frequent on the daily occasions for re- 
volting interjectives ; but is sometimes found engrafted on 
the syllabic utterance of discourse. I am disposed to think it 
might be used on the word 'detestable,' in the following lines, 
from that dreadful malediction upon Athens, at the opening of 
the fourth act of Shakspeare's Timon. 

Nothing I'll bear from thee 
But nakedness, thou detestable town! 

When this element is compounded with the highest powers 
of stress and aspiration, it produces the most impulsive blast of 
speech. 

Of the Temporal Emphasis. 

When the quantity of an emphatic syllable is long, and ad- 
mits of indefinite extension ; when the word conveys merely 
a discriminative meaning, without any peculiar sentiment or 
passion ; or when the distinction has the sole purpose of an 
emphatic tie, the impression may be made by the influence of 
time alone, as in the following address : 

Hail holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born, 
Or of the Eternal, coeternal beam, 
May 1 express thee unblamed? 

Or more conspicuously in Abdiel l s warning to Satan. 
2M 



290 THE TEMPORAL EMPHASIS. 

For soon expect to feel 
His thunder on thy head, devouring fire. 
Then, who created thee lamenting learn, 
When who can wncreate thee thou shalt know. 

In this example, the long quantities of the accented sylla- 
ble of 'thunder,' and 'devouring,' are given as instances of 
the emphatic tie ; by which the apposition of two subjects, 
notwithstanding the intervening clause, is shown in its true 
syntax by the voice. Perhaps these words, as well as the others 
which are marked for quantity alone, might, in the opinion of 
a critic, receive the additional distinction of a forceful or in- 
tonated mode of emphasis. It may be learned from the speech 
at large, that Abdiel is no longer the ' fervent angel' contend- 
ing with the apostate. He is now the herald of the decrees of 
the Almighty. The warm spirit, the hopes and the fears of 
argument, have given place to grave admonitions, and to the 
solemn declarations of an ordained judgment ; and the mode 
of unimpassioned but conspicuous distinction by temporal 
emphasis, appears well accommodated to the utterance of the 
( unmoved, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,' and prophetic 
Seraph. 

The reader must have seen how closely connected the va- 
rious accidents of speech are ; and that however wishfully the 
attempt is made, to bring them down to the state of single 
constituents, it is impossible to represent each separately in 
the necessary illustrations. I am pretending here to speak of 
the simple extension of quantity as the means of emphasis, 
when in reality that quantity is effectual, as an attractive 
agent, even in its plainest form, through the influence of one 
of the formerly described elements of intonation. It must 
therefore be taken into the account of the temporal emphasis, 
that, — though the protraction of syllables may be made in the 
simple rise or fall of an interval, still the common form of 
long quantity is that of a direct or inverted wave. When the 
time is extended on interrogative syllables ; or on those which 
carry positiveness or command ; or which form a monad ca- 
dence, — the intonation is drawn, respectively to these cases, 
through the simple course of the upward or downward third 
or fifth or eighth. But in the plain emphasis of time, such as 



THE EMPHASIS OF PITCH. 291 

that employed in the above examples, and such generally as 
may be used in the diatonic melody, which admits of no pe- 
culiar expression except that of serious dignity, — the exten- 
sion of the indefinite syllable is always made by the direct or 
inverted wave of the second. 



Of the Emphasis of Pitch. 

It was stated generally in speaking of the pitch of the voice, 
that the several intervals of the scale are used as the means of 
emphasis. We should now proceed to the illustration of this 
subject : but as the rising third, fifth, and octave, were said to 
be the symbols of interrogation, and as they have this signifi- 
cation even when applied to but one word of a sentence, it cer- 
tainly becomes a matter of inquiry, how the interrogative 
characteristic in discourse is to be distinguished from the em- 
phatic. There must be even to the common ear, something 
like an unwritten rule to which reference is unconsciously 
made ; for notwithstanding, the frequent employment of these 
symbols in their different meanings, these meanings are rarely 
confounded. But our discriminations of this matter have in 
time past been but four footed instincts ; let us try to ennoble 
them a little-, by giving them the support and the exalted step 
of principles. 

The various modes of constructing interrogative sentences 
were described in the sixteenth section. 

As the emphatic employment of the intervals of pitch is on 
a single word of a sentence, or at most on two or three, there 
is no liability to mistake cases of emphasis, for those of decla- 
rative and earnest interrogation, which always bear the tho- 
rough intonation. It was shown formerly that the partial ex- 
pression is never applied except to questions made by the 
pronoun or adverb, or by the inverted nominative : therefore, 
questions of this sort, even when intonated by a solitary third, 
or fifth, or octave, are not liable to be confounded with cases of 
emphasis formed upon these same intervals, in sentences which 
have not the above described grammatical construction. 

Many phrases which have the form of a question, seem ne- 
vertheless to hang doubtfully between an interrogative and an 



292 EMPHASIS OF THE OCTAVE. 

assertive meaning. When such phrases can be fairly resolved 
into an interjective appeal, or into that assurance in argument, 
which dictates a negative interrogatory,, the positive temper of 
the sentiment generally calls for an intonation in the downward 
concrete, as was shown in the thirty-first section. The following 
passages are by editorial punctuation, marked with an interro- 
gative sign. Whereas the above named conditions seem to me 
to apply so clearly here, that I would exclude the interrogative 
intervals, and designate these virtual afiirmations by the posi- 
tiveness of a downward intonation. 

What should he in that CjEsar? 
"Why should that name be sounded more than yours ! 



Casca. What night is this? 

Cassius. A very pleasing night to honest men. 
Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so 1 



Shylock. Ay, his breast: 

So says the bond ! Doth it not noble judge 1 
Nearest his heart, those are the very words. 



In the first of these instances, Cassius does positively 
mean that — there is nothing in that Csesar, nor in his name. 
In the second, Casca would say, — it is a dreadful night ; and 
the heavens were never known to menace so. And in the last, 
Shylock means, — you know it, noble judge. If therefore the 
interrogative intonation should be applied either thoroughly or 
in part to these phrases, the intended positiveness of conviction, 
will not be reached in expression. Sentences of this sort call 
for the grammatical note of exclamation. 

We go on now to the enumeration of the intervals of pitch, 
which serve the purpose of emphasis. 



Of the Emphasis of the Octave. 

If the concrete rise of the Octave should be set on a single 
syllable of a current diatonic melody, it will, by the peculiarity 



EMPHASIS OF THE OCTAVE. 293 

of its sound, conspicuously distinguish that syllable above 
others formed on the interval of a tone; and will thus be brought 
within the meaning of the term emphasis, even though it 
should not receive any excess of force. 

The reader may remember what was said on the subject of the 
intervals of the scale being appreciable, even in the momentary 
flight of an immutable syllable. But it has been shown like- 
wise, that such short syllables generally take on the expression 
of the octave, by a skip of radical pitch, from the level of cur- 
rent speech to the height of that interval above it The em- 
phasis of the octave appears therefore under the form of the 
slow concrete, and that of the change of radical pitch ; and it 
may be well to have it understood here, that the same varie- 
ties exist in the emphasis of the other higher intervals of the 
scale. 

I can not say that the octave is employed emphatically, ex- 
cept for the special enforcing of one word above others, in an 
interrogative sentence : and this indeed but rarely ; for there 
is a kind of musical cant in its long-drawn ascent that excludes 
it from those elevated purposes of speech which it is the de- 
sign of science to investigate, and of taste to approve. 

The octave, it was remarked formerly, carries the spirit of a 
quick, a taunting or a mirthful interrogative ; and is perhaps 
never used in a calm, serious and dignified question. It would 
be admissible in the following sneering exultation of Shylock 
over Antonio. 



Monies is your suit. 
What should I say to you 1 should I not say i 
Hath a dog money 1 Is it possible 
A cur can lend three thousand ducats? 



Every word of the two last questions will bear an interroga- 
tive intonation : but the terms dog and cur being emphatic 
allusions to the previous rating of Shylock by Antonio, they 
carry a revengeful triumph, and an immediate antithesis to 
their former purpose, by being run up to the piercing treble 
of the octave. It is possible, some readers might be disposed 
to set a more dignified mode of intonation on these questions. 
I only say they will bear what is here given, without making 



294 EMPHASIS OF THE FIFTH. 

preference the subject of discussion. The readings proposed 
throughout this essay are for illustration, and their design is 
fulfilled, whether or not they exactly accord- with common 
opinion. There is a best in the works of every art : but the 
latitude of their variation, within the pale of principles, has an 
ample and liberal scope, which sometimes will admit even 
cases of unsuccessful search after excellence. Over such fail- 
ures the intelligent critic will be neither quarrelsome nor se- 
vere. 

The emphasis of the octave when formed by a change of 
radical pitch, is exemplified in the following lines. 

'Zounds, show me what thou'lt do: 

Woot weep ? woot fight ? woot fast ? woot tear thyself ? 

The exasperated energy of Hamlet, in his encounter with 
Laertes, calls for the highest pitch of interrogation on the words 
here marked ; but the correct pronunciation of these words 
does not admit of the slow concrete. To fulfil the purposes of 
expression they are to be immediately transferred by radical 
change to an octave above the word 'woot,' which is set in its 
several places, at the common level of the voice. The em- 
phatic syllable, when thus raised, is still further endowed with 
the character of the interrogative interval, by a rapid flight 
through the concrete octave, agreeably to the account given of 
this process in a former section. In short, the first seven words 
of the second line do really skip, alternately ascending and de- 
scending, between the extremes of an octave. 

Whilst these lines are before us, it may be well to draw 
attention to the contrast between the two modes of pitch in the 
octave: for the word 'tear, 7 having an indefinite quantity, 
admits freely of the protracted concrete ; and the voice after 
being restrained on the preceding immutable syllables is here 
restored to its prolonged and gliding intonation. 



Of the Emphasis of the Fifth. 

The relation which the interval of the concrete fifth bears to 
the octave, was shown formerly as regards its interrogative 



EMPHASIS OF THE FIFTH. 295 

character. As a symbol of emphatic sense or passion, the fifth 
is less attractive to the ear than the octave : for it has not the 
piercing influence which belongs to the latter interval. There 
is however, more dignity in the importance which it gives to 
a syllable. In the following lines from Satan's address to the 
sun, the emphasis on < thee/ may be made by the concrete 
fifth. 



Evil be thou my good : by thee, at least 
Divided empire with Heaven's king I hold. 



I have said here, (and I beg the same latitude for other cases) 
that a certain symbol of emphasis may be employed: since, 
on many occasions, the means of emphasis may be varied. 
Thus, in the present example, the syllable 'thee,' might be 
made in the wave of the fifth or the third, or even the second ; 
but under this last substitution, the want of that eminence 
which is given by the rise of the fifth, must be supplied by a 
long quantity, and by the use of the radical or median or van- 
ishing stress on the wave so employed. 

In the following lines, the emphasis of the fifth on the word 
'beauty' is perhaps not absolutely unchangeable to any other 
mode : but it certainly produces a brightness of picture, which 
seems best suited to the sentiment, and which can not perhaps 
be so well effected in any other way. 

Tears like the rain-drops may fall without measure, 
But rapture and beauty they can not recall. 

The emphasis of the fifth, by a skip of radical pitch, is well 
exemplified in that Hue which was quoted to show the radical 
stress. 

Which, if not victory, is yet revenge. 

Here the force required on the word « victory' claims all 
the assistance which intonation can add to its abrupt stress : 
and this is given by setting the short syllable ' vie' at a discrete 
fifth above the place of ' not.' 



296 EMPHASIS OF THE THIRD. 

Of the Emphasis of the Third. 

The striking intonation of the octave and the fifth is suited 
to the earnest spirit of colloquial utterance, and to the forcible 
sentiments of the drama. The rise of the voice through the 
third, though still denoting both interrogation and emphasis, 
produces a less intense, but a more dignified impression on the 
ear, in the purposes of its application. 

The rise of the third may be set on the word 'he,' in the 
following lines. 

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? 
The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile. 
Stirred up with envy and revenge — ■ 

There are some phrases simply interrogative ; which convey 
none of those other sentiments formerly ascribed to the octave 
and the fifth. The emphatic distinction in these cases, is 
made with the moderately attractive influence of the third. 



Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion, 
i'.the earth ? 



If, in this example i Alexander,' ' this fashion,' and ' earth/ 
be taken as emphatic, the distinction will be appropriately 
made by the third. Should the intonation on these words be 
in the higher interval of the fifth or octave, it would imply an 
eagerness of inquiry, and a light familiarity of address, not 
suggested by the sense of the question, nor consistent with the 
temper of Hamlet's moralizing reflections. 

It is scarcely worth while to illustrate the radical skip of the 
third in relation to emphasis. The word ' victory,' in a 
preceding example, may be executed in this discrete interval, 
if the reader should think the fifth, which is there used, too 
high : for it will exemplify either case, according to the degree 
of energy ascribed to it. 

It was shown in the fifteenth section, that the third is em- 
ployed on the emphatic words of conditional, concessive, and 
hypothetical phrases. 






THE EMPHASIS OF THE SEMITONE. 297 

I have said that the minor third has a plaintiveness, not un- 
like the effect of the semitone. It is not indeed more impres- 
sive on the ear, in all the purposes of speech, than this last 
named interval, but it has more of the whine or cry in it. It 
may therefore be used for emphasis in the course of a chroma- 
tic melody, whenever a word or phrase contains a sentiment 
that carries the plaintive feeling to the point of tears. 



Of the Emphasis of the Semitone. 

I omit here, allotting a head to the subject of the tone or 
second. The reader must by this time be so well acquainted 
with the construction of the diatonic melody, as to admit, that 
if the second is the common form of the concrete, in all dis- 
course which carries no important or peculiar expression, the 
simple rise through that interval can not, as far as regards 
pitch, be emphatic. Indeed the other intervals owe their 
attractive power to their contrast with this general current of 
the simple second. It is true, a syllable is made emphatic by 
quantity ; and that quantity is commonly a prolongation 
through the doubling of the second into the form of a wave. 
But the impressiveness is here an agency of time, not of into- 
nation. 

As the semitone has a peculiar expression, it could fulfil 
the condition of emphasis, when laid upon a single word in the 
course of a diatonic melody. It rarely happens however that 
a word is found thus insulated : for if a plaintive sentiment 
issues from one word, it generally spreads its effect over the 
whole of the phrase or sentence ; thus constituting the chro- 
matic melody, and thereby destroying the solitary importance 
of the semitone. 

There are however other modes of emphasis in a chromatic 
melody. It may be made by stress in its various forms ; and 
by time, for the semitone is set on syllables of all quantities. 
It may likewise be effected by intonation, in the following 
manner. 

When a syllable calls for the emphasis of pitch in a chromatic 
melody, that emphasis can not be a concrete rise through the 
second, third, fifth or eighth : for these movements would 
2N 



298 THE EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD CONCRETE. 

destroy the plaintiveness, which by the conditions of the case 
ought to exist. But should a syllable of the chromatic melody 
be elevated by a discrete radical change, from the level of the 
current, to a third, fifth or octave above it ; and when thus 
raised, be there made, however rapidly, through the interval 
of a semitone, it is evident that the plaintive or chromatic 
character must be preserved : and since the syllable, by a 
transfer of the radical pitch, is advanced to a higher point of 
the scale, it is by the additional means of acuteness, conspicu- 
ously impressed on the ear, and thus fully answers to the defi- 
nition of emphasis. 



Of the Emphasis of the Downward Concrete. 

We have said that the downward movement of the voice 
conveys the expression of surprise and positiveness, and is the 
mode of making a cadence on a single long syllable. But some- 
thing further on the mode of applying this concrete, for the 
purpose of emphasis in the course of a current melody, is now 
to be learned. 

The downward concrete is a mode of emphatic distinction ; 
exerting in its wider intervals a powerful attraction over the 
ear. It can not however be applied to sentences of thorough 
interrogative intonation : nor is it in its simple forms used in 
the chromatic melody. When necessary in this latter case, for 
denoting, surprise or positiveness, it may be introduced as a 
constit -nit of the unequal wave : for the rise of the semitone 
as the fivst constituent, will preserve the character of the chro- 
matic melody ; and a subsequent continuation downwards 
through the eighth, or fifth, or third, will join to this melody 
the peculiar expression of the falling concretes. 

When I have had occasion, in its proper place, to speak of 
the descent of the voice, both by concrete and by radical pitch, 
I did not represent the fall, otherwise than as if it took place 
from the line of the current melody. It is now necessary to 
show a different mode of its movement. In the twenty-first 
section, I did however give a notation of the following line ; — 

Seems, madam, nay, it is! 1 know not seems.: — 



THE EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD CONCRETE. 299 

in which 1 marked one of its emphatic syllables with a down- 
ward fifth : the concrete appearing on the staff, with its radical 
the whole extent of that interval above the current melody. I 
then merely pointed out this peculiarity : for as I was taking 
a physiological view of the downward concrete, I did not wish 
to anticipate the history of this part of emphasis. 

Now should * is' in the above line be pronounced in the 
monad or feeble cadence ; that is, should the descent through 
a third be made on this word as if it were the close of a sen- 
tence, it will not have that emphatic force (stress and time 
being aside in this consideration) which is required by the 
sense. It can not be, then, the simple descent of the voice 
from the line of the current melody, which gives impressive- 
ness to this form of emphasis. 

The full effect of the downward concrete, as an emphatic 
symbol, is produced by commencing its radical on a line of 
pitch above the current melody, and descending to that line or 
below it, according to the degree of expression. The height 
at which the outset or radical of the descending concrete is 
to be taken, depends on the degree of positiveness or surprise 
contemplated in the emphasis. That the expressive effects of 
the downward concrete proceed from its affinity to the nature 
of the cadence, 1 will not assert. It would seem however that 
there is something like an ultimate affirmation in a very posi- 
tive assertion ; it being as much as to say, this affirmation is 
beyond doubt, therefore let nothing further be said about it. 

It may perhaps be asked, — why the downward vanish, em- 
phatically used in the current melody, does not produce the 
effect- of a cadence, and thus intersect the sense of discourse. 
It is to be recollected that the feeblest form of the cadence 
consists in the concrete descent through the third, consequently 
the downward emphasis can at most amount but to this feeble 
form. And it is to be also borne in mind, that the proper ca- 
dence is continued downward from the line of the current 
melody : whereas the emphatic downward concrete, begins at 
a point of pitch much above the line of the melody, and does 
not always descend below it. 



300 THE EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD OCTAVE. 

Of the Emphasis of the Downward Octave. 

After what has been said generally of the downward em- 
phasis, it is scarcely necessary to state that the octave, when 
set on a long syllable, gives the highest degree, of this species 
of emphasis. The word ' hell' in the following lines requires 
the octave : 



So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell 
Grew darker at their frown. 



This is taken from the fine description of the threatful hos- 
tility between Satan and Death, in the second book of Paradise 
Lost. And whoever gives this part with a forcible and some- 
what dramatic effect, will find it impossible to bring out the 
full sense of the poet, except by the above directed intonation. 
The intention of the author, if I dare to interpret it, is not to 
represent, simply without marking its degree, an increase of 
darkness produced by the figurative gloom of the brows of the 
combatants. Such a picture would be too tame and trite for 
this dreadful edge of battle. The thought becomes worthy of 
the occasion, when the frowns, are said to be able to blacken 
the deep darkness even of Hell. 

So much for the description and illustration of the concrete 
pitch of the downward octave. But the transition for the pur- 
pose of emphasis is made on immutable syllables, by a change 
of radical pitch from an assumed point above the current me- 
lody. The following passage from the second book of Milton, 
may serve for illustration : 



Far less abhorr'd than these 
Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts 
Calabria from the hoarse Tiinacrian shore. 



I know not how others might attempt to make out the pic- 
ture of this first line : but 1 can in no way satisfy my ear with 
it, except by a concrete rise through the octave on < far,' by 
giving 'less' at the top of that interval, and then descending 
by the discrete skip of an octave in radical pitch to ' ab ;' thus 






THE EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD FIFTH. 301 

returning to the level of the radical of < far,' or to the line of 
the current melody. It is not the place, but 1 may here say 
that ' horr'd,' is to be executed in the concrete downward em- 
phasis of the octave. 

A similar intonation is appropriate to the passage which 
follows in the text of the poem. 

Nor uglier follow the night-hag. 

In the examples here shown, 1 say nothing of the modes of 
stress or of the aspiration which might be necessary for the 
full vocal display of these passages. My business is with that 
single element, the downward movement. 

If it be asked, — why the descent by the radical pitch has not 
the effect of the cadencial close ; it may be answered, — that it 
does indeed approximate towards the nature of a cadence ; but 
it is still a feeble one, and not sufficient to cut off the sense of 
discourse. For the descent is from a point assumed above the 
current line, and the downward reach is to about the level of 
that line : whereas the true and final cadence is made by a de- 
scent of three tones below that line. 



Of the Emphasis of the Downward Fifth. 

The similarity of this element with the last, the difference 
consisting in degree only, renders it unnecessary to do more, 
than quote a phrase in which the less energetic emphasis of the 
downward fifth may be employed. The word 'courageous,' 
in the following extract from the dramatic contention between 
Gabriel and Satan, at the close of the fourth book of Paradise 
Lost, bears this downward fifth on its accented syllable. 

Courageous chief! 
The first in flight from pain ! 

The radical change of the downward fifth is exhibited in the 
reading of the following lines, from the first act of Julius 



302 THE EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD THIRD. 

Caesar. In the second scene, after Cassius has brought out 
from Brutus a proud declaration of his love of honor, he says, 

I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 
As well as I do know your outward favor. 
Well, honor is the subject of my story. 

Now, supposing this to be the proper place for the emphasis, 
the sentiment here conveyed, that this honor is the very matter 
he desires to speak of, is to be made out by a downward into- 
nation on the word ' subject:' But the accented syllable of this 
word is too short to bear the concrete. The expression is 
therefore to be accomplished through a discrete descent, by as- 
suming the first syllable * sub,' at a fifth above the current 
melody, and returning to the line of that melody, on 'jeer,' 
by the radical skip of a fifth. Some other form of emphasis 
on this word may, in a manner, show the sense which is here 
assumed. But I am very confident, that to an ear of judgment 
and taste, none will give the bright picture of the sentiment, 
which is effected by the proposed mode of intonation. 



Of the Emphasis of the Downward Third. 

The downward Third expresses a more moderate degree of 
the same sense and sentiment, which are conveyed by the 
preceding intervals of the octave and fifth. Thus in the follow- 
ing reply of Hamlet, the word ' queen' does not seem to require 
a stronger emphatic distinction than is made by a falling third. 



Queen. Have you forgot me ? 

Ham. No, by the rood, not so: 

You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife. 

And here I may take occasion to refer to the difference be- 
tween the effect of the downward third, when employed as 
the means of emphasis, and as a feeble cadence. For if the 
word * Queen' merely descends concretely, from the line of 
the current melody to a third below it, the sentence ma)' pass 
for a complete one, terminated at that point by a feeble ca- 



THE EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD THIRD. 303 

dence. But if the radical of this syllable is raised to a third 
above the current melody, and then brought down to it, in the 
manner of emphasis, a subsequent pause will not produce the 
like effect of a close. 

The emphasis of the downward third by change of radical 
skip, may be made by a transition from ' that' to ' too/ in the 
following phrase. 

Cassius. They shouted thrice; what was the last cry fori 
Casca, Why, for that too. 



Here the word ' that' is to be raised above the line of the cur- 
rent melody. 

It was said formerly that the prepared cadence is produced 
by the downward radical change of a third, preceding the 
triad. Now, although in this case the voice falls to a third 
below the line of the current melody, still this descent alone 
does not produce a cadence. For the lowest constituent of this 
phrase of the third, if I may so call it, does not end in a feeble 
downward tone, but in an upward vanish, similar to the rest of 
the melody. This downward radical skip has all the effect of 
an emphasis, by forcibly impressing on the ear the most com- 
plete accomplishment of the close. 

The downward minor third may be used for emphasis, under 
the same circumstances that admit the rising form of this 
interval. I perceive no difference in the effect, except perhaps 
that there is more gravity in the downward movement. 

The downward second being a constituent of the diatonic 
melody, has no emphatic qualities. It serves to give variety to 
the current, by occasionally taking the place of the rising con- 
crete. When given to the last constituent of a downward tri- 
tone, it makes the tripartite cadence. 

The downward semitone has peculiarity sufficient to mark a 
strong emphatic distinction : but 1 am not aware of its being 
ever introduced, in a solitary manner, into the diatonic me- 
lody : and in the chromatic it merely serves the purpose of va- 
riety, similar to that of the downward second in the diatonic 
current. 



304 THE EMPHASIS OF THE WAVE. 

Of the Emphasis of the Wave. 

The junction of opposite concretes produces a positive effect 
upon the ear, which gives emphatic distinction to the words on 
which it is applied. 

If one were to draw the rules of reading from the mass of 
mankind, and not from cultivated and rare examples of excel- 
lence, it would be necessary to add to the two formerly des- 
cribed kinds of melody, that of the wave : since there are many 
speakers who apply the higher species of this element of into- 
nation, to every long and emphatic syllable of discourse. Such 
a practice, to say the least of it, certainly prevents the employ- 
ment of the impressive kinds of wave, as the means of em- 
phasis. 

The wave expresses, according to its forms, surprise, inter- 
rogation, mirthful wonder, sneer and scorn : and is emphati- 
cally used on long quantities which embrace these sentiments. 

The dignified diatonic melody is made, as has been shown, 
by the wave of the second : but this is only a method of add- 
ing the gravity of the downward second, to the lighter effect of 
the ascent of that interval ; and of producing that length in 
syllables which is essential to solemn utterance, without incur- 
ring the risk of falling into the notes of song. Consequently 
this wave of the second can not be enumerated among the means 
of emphasis. The other waves of higher intervals serve also 
the purpose of giving time and dignity to utterance, by dou- 
bling the intervals of which they are respectively composed. 
But they have a striking peculiarity when heard in the diatonic 
melody : giving thereby to the words which bear them, an em- 
phatic distinction. 

If the sentiment of scorn is contained in dignified discourse, 
it is to be expressed by the use of the vanishing stress, or by 
aspiration, joined with either the simple rise or fall of the con- 
crete, or with the direct or inverted form of the single wave. 
For there is a degree of levity and familiarity in the double 
wave, which is unsuitable to the kind of discourse from which 
we are here excluding it. 

In considering the emphasis of the wave, I shall not attempt 
to illustrate all its forms. If the reader has been careful to fol- 
low me in the analysis of this element, he will be able to make 



EMPHASIS OF THE EQUAL WAVE. 305 

out all these things for himself: and there are too many varie- 
ties of the wave to justify any thing like an entire enumeration 
of them. 1 shall name a few species. 



Of the Emphasis of the Equal-single Wave of the Octave* 

I can not at this moment give an example, from serious com- 
position, of an octave in the above form. The piercing drawl 
of its intonation is only common in the play of vulgar snarl- 
ings, if indeed it is ever employed for any other purpose. It 
actively expresses surprise ; and when heightened by the 
vanishing stress, aspiration, or guttural emphasis, it has the 
additional meaning of sneer and scorn. There is a difference 
in the effect of this symbol, according as it is made on a low 
or a high pitch of the voice. In the latter case, it has more of 
the character of raillery or mirthful comment than of canting 
contempt. 

If the single-equal wave of the octave is inverted, the em- 
phasis has the character of interrogation, from the ascent of 
the last constituent. 



Of the Emphasis of the Equal-single Wave of the Fifth. 

This element carries a degree of admiration, but less than 
that of the octave : as in the following example from the con- 
test between Satan and Death. 



And breath'st defiance here and scorn, 
Where I reign king? and to enrage the more, 
Thy king and lord ! 

Whoever will read the whole passage with the dramatic 
power which its composition justifies, will find he may set the 
element now under consideration, on the syllable 'thy,' as a 
full expression of the positiveness, vaunting authority and self- 
admiration of the Goblin. 

In order to show the difference in character between this 
direct wave, and its inverted form, let the latter be substituted 
in the above reading. The interrogative effect produced by 
20 



306 EMPHASIS OF THE UNEQUAL WAVE. 

the ascent of its last constituent, will not only obscure the soul 
of the poet, but absolutely cross out his sense ; for it will make 
Death ask a question, when he intends to be unanswerably af- 
firmative. 

1 need not consume time by giving an example of the wave 
of the Third in its equal-single form. If we suppose an abate- 
ment in the degree of expression, all that was said of the cha- 
racter of the wave of the fifth, may be affirmed of it. It is 
more commonly employed than the fifth. 

Nor need I say much of the emphasis of the direct and invert- 
ed wave of the Minor third 5 since it is employed for a purpose 
similar to that of its upward and downward constituents. It is, 
however, more expressive and has a longer quantity. 



Of the Emphasis of the Unequal-single Wave. 

I said formerly that the unequal wave is used as the symbol 
of admiration, surprise or interrogation, according as its course 
is direct or inverted : in the wide variation of the dimensions 
of its constituents, and in its junction with vanishing stress or 
aspiration or guttural emphasis, it becomes the most eminent 
mark of scorn. The last word of the following contemptuous 
retort of Coriolanus on the Volscian general who had called 
him a ' boy of tears,' might perhaps be given as an instance of 
the ascent of a fifth and the subsequent descent of an octave. 

False hound ! 
If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there 
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I 
Fluttered your Voices in Corioli; 
Alone I did it.— Boy! 

I say nothing here of the strong aspiration, necessary to blow 
out the scornful feeling of the speaker. I have heard this syl- 
lable pronounced on the Stage, with the simple downward em- 
phasis. But there is more cool wonder and self-satisfaction in 
this intonation than belongs to the Roman's vexed baying of 
his revilers, and to his vehement retort of a charge of incon- 
stancy, which he must have half acknowledged to himself. 



EMPHASIS OF THE UNEQUAL WAVE. 307 

In the following lines, from the contention between Brutus 
and Cassius, the word 'yea' may bear a direct-unequal wave ? 
consisting of the rise of a tone or third, connected with the fall 
of a third or fifth. 

For, from this day forth, 
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, 
When you are waspish. 

If this word be given without aspiration, or vanishing stress, 
or guttural voice, I do not know that the expression will differ 
much from that of the equal wave. The sneer must therefore 
depend on the union of some one of these last named elements 
with the simple utterance. 

The intonation of the italic-word 'wrong' in the follow- 
ing line, may be taken as an example of the emphasis of an 
unequal wave whose first constituent is a semitone ; and the 
second a downward third or fifth, according to the force re- 
quired by the sentiment : 

You wrong me every way, you wrong me, Brutus. 

I have turned over all the books within my reach without 
being able to find a sentence for illustrating a case of the double 
wave. Serious and elevated discourse can have all its purposes 
of feeling and sense fulfilled without it : and it is not the design 
of this essay to point out to children and drolls, the scientific 
mode of derisively imitating the surprise of their neighbours, 
by the curling mockery of this vulgar element. 

I have nothing to say about the Time of the concrete as a 
means of emphasis. The variations of its time are perceptible 
by strict attention : but they are so closely united with the 
modes of stress, that the separate consideration of them would 
be an unnecessary refinement. 



Of the Emphasis of the Tremor. 

The tremor may be applied to a succession of syllables, and 
thus, in a manner, constitute a tremulous melody. But we 
have here to consider its occasional application to one or two 
words in the current of speech. 



308 EMPHASIS OF THE TREMOR. 

When the tremor is made on a tonic element, in any interval 
except the semitone, it is the symbol of laughter : and conse- 
quently, in syllabic utterance it joins to the sense of the words 
on which it is set, the expression of joy and exultation. 



Thou art the ruins of the noblest man, 
That ever lived in the tide of times. 



There is a seatiment of exultation, and a superlativeness of 
compliment in this eulogy, which can not be properly express- 
ed by the smooth movement of the concrete. The first sylla- 
ble of the emphatic word ' noblest,' when uttered with the tre- 
mulous intonation of the wave of the third or second, gives the 
vocal consummation to the feeling which suggests the exceed- 
ing measure of the praise. 

When the tremor is formed of a single tonic, in the semitone 
or its waves, it constitutes the function of crying. When em- 
ployed in the syllabic intonation of the chromatic melody it 
sets a more marked distinction on those emphatic words which 
express the sentiments of tenderness, grief, supplication, and 
other connatural states of feeling. 

The following passage is taken from a dramatic part of Para- 
dise Lost, in the tenth book ; and if read with the personal ac- 
tion of the dialogue, calls for the highest coloring of the semi- 
tone, and of the tremulous movement. 



Forsake me not thus, Adam ! witness, Heaven, 

What love sincere, and reverence in my heart 

I bear thee, and unweeting have offended, 

Unhappily deceived ! Thy suppliant 

I beg, and clasp thy knees ; bereave me not, 

Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid; 

Thy counsel in this uttermost distress, 

My only strength and stay. Forlorn of thee, 

Whither shall I betake me, where subsist ? 

While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps, 

Between us two let there be peace ; both joining, 

As joined in injuries, one enmity 

Against a foe by doom express assigned us, 

That cruel Serpent. On me exercise not 

Thy hatred for this misery befallen ; 



A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 309 

On me already lost, me than thyself 
More miserable 1 Both have sinned; but thou 
Against God only; I, against God arid thee; 
And to the place of judgment will return, 
There with my cries importune Heaven, that all 
The sentence, from thy head removed, may light 
On me, sole cause to thee of all this wo; 
Me, me only, just object of his ire! 

By the lines that follow in the poem, Eve is said to have 
' ended weeping,' and her supplication, to have been accom- 
panied ' with tears that ceased not flowing.' Now tears in 
speech are always made with more or less tremor. Should 
the semitonic tremor however be applied throughout the 
whole of this passage, the effect would be monotonous, and 
the characteristic concrete of speech would be lost in the 
agitated voice of crying. The mingled efficacy of these func- 
tions may be appropriately shown by using the tremor only 
on judiciously selected emphatic words. It may be well to 
remark that the above lines are not entirely subservient to the 
manner of delivery here suggested : for some of the syllables 
which carry the deepest feeling of contrition, have not suffi- 
cient quantity to allow the eminent intonation of the tremor. 
The word ' beg' and the accented syllable of ' uttermost' are 
of this nature ; for though they admit of the tremulous func- 
tion to a certain degree, still their limited time does not fully 
satisfy the demands of sentiment for a free extension of the 
voice. The words 'bereave,' 'o?ily,' f forlorn/ ' thee,' and 
' more,' through their indefinite quantity give ample measure 
to intonation. On these then, and others which might be 
designated, the tremor may be effectually set, whilst the rest 
of the melody, not so marked, must have the smooth concrete 
of the semitone. 



*ft. Recapitulating View of Emphasis. 

Upon a close consideration of the foregoing subject, it will 
be found difficult to draw a definite line of separation between 
words which are emphatic, and the common run of the melo- 
dy : in as much as some of the fainter cases of emphasis may 
scarcely differ from the simply accentual and temporal dis- 
tinction of syllables. 



310 A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 

To what case then is the term emphasis to be applied ? — 
Not to that of every syllable which differs in any degree from 
its neighbour. For by this rule we may regard half the words 
of language as emphatic : since they are perpetually varying 
from others by slight degrees of force and quantity ; and since 
some important elements of pitch when not assisted by time 
and stress, are occasionally applied to syllables, without pro- 
ducing thereby any extraordinary distinction. There are, 
however, certain characteristics of vocal sounds which un- 
erringly call the attention of an auditory. High powers of 
stress, extreme length in quantity, wide intervals of pitch, and 
any peculiar quality of voice, when set on certain words, may 
be considered as the constituents of emphasis. But at what 
point in the respective gradations of these elements, the em- 
phatic character begins, can not be assigned, and perhaps need 
not be known. 

The subject of emphasis may be viewed under several as- 
pects : and they are here pointed out, with the design to con- 
tribute towards future philosophical inquiry on this question. 
Somewhat more time than I dare devote to these matters, 
would be requisite for framing those general rules, which, in 
the prophecy of investigation, I can not but pronounce here, to 
be discoverable by industry and perseverance. But if enough 
has not been already said in this department, I am not un- 
willing to leave something to be said by others. 

Emphasis has, in the preceding parts of this section, been 
regarded as expressive of certain sentiments and thoughts, 
through the agency of the several accidents of the voice. 

Emphasis may likewise be considered in reference to its 

general Purposes. These are : First To raise one or more 

words above the level of the rest of the sentence, without re- 
gard to their special relationships or antithesis. Secondly 
To contrast certain words with each other, or to con- 
tradistinguish them. Thirdly To supply an ellipsis, and 

thereby complete to the ear, that construction which is im- 
perfect in grammar. Fourthly To mark the syntax in 

those cases where it might be doubtful without the assistance 
of emphasis. 

Another view of this subject might be grounded on an ana- 
lysis of the parts of speech. Thus, when an emphasis is 



A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 311 

laid on the article, it contradistinguishes a subject as definite 

or indefinite, as singular or plural. When made on a noun, 

it may either express a direct opposition between some of the 
various accidents of this part of speech ; or it may raise one 
substantive-thought above the rest of the sentence, without 

the immediate suggestions of any special antithesis. On 

pronouns its distinctions are relative to gender, number, case 
and person ; or it may indicate, as on the article, the definite 
nature of a subject. On the verb it may show the relation- 
ship of states of being, acting and suffering, of time and num- 
ber ; or, may distinguish without palpable antitheses. On 

the adverb it may give the contradistinctions of time, place, 

negation, affirmation and inference. On the preposition it 

may mark the antithesis of motion, position and cause. On 

conjunctions it may show the contrasts of conjunctive and dis- 
junctive relations ; and of condition. On the interjection, 

emphasis serves only for unrelated distinction, and does not, 
as far as I know, embrace an antithesis. 

On the whole, whatever is the meaning of any part of 
speech, emphasis may not only raise it into importance, and 
contradistinguish it from some other meaning, but may like- 
wise be employed to supply an ellipsis, and to point out the 
syntax. 

I have read somewhere, — that every case of emphasis in- 
cludes contrast. This certainly is not true of emphatic inter- 
jections, at least 1 am not able to discern the antithesis in 
them : and with regard to the cases included under the detail 
of the other parts of speech, there are many instances in which 
the contrast is not brought before attention, notwithstanding 
it is admitted that such antithesis is absolutely included in the 
thought. 

It is not within the range of my design to illustrate all the 
cases of emphasis which have been set forth in the above sur- 
vey of species, suggested by the philosophy of the parts of 
speech. I here exemplify only the four general heads of the 
Purposes of emphasis, given above. 

First. The distinction of one word above others, without 
the striking perception of antithesis, is here shown. 

But see! the angry victor hath recall'd 
His ministers of vengeance and pursuit, 
Back to the gates of Heaven. 



312 A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 

This first phrase is interjective ; but I can not conceive with 
what ' see,' is in contrast. Surely Satan in drawing the at- 
tention of the eyes of Beelzebub, did not mean to signify, that 
he should not touch, taste, or otherwise perceive the recall of 
the pursuit : And to suppose < see,' to be in antithesis to his 
not having looked before, is a mere refinement. The case is 
the same with most interjections, whether they are properly 
the simple tonic elements, or with greater latitude, any of the 
several parts of speech. 

Secondly. The marked antithesis is exemplified in the fol- 
lowing lines : 

I yielded, and from that time see 
How beauty is excelled by manly grace 
And wisdom, which alone is truly fair. 

This is the most frequent form of emphasis. 

Thirdly. The use of strong emphasis in an elliptical sen- 
tence is remarkable in the following instance. 



Into what pit thou seest! 
From what height fall'n ! so much the stronger proved 
He with his thunder. 



Taking these lines as a complete construction, they are un- 
grammatical, and unintelligible. It is scarcely necessrry to 

suggest that the poet meant to say see to what a dreadful 

pit we are doomed, consider from what an immeasurable height 
we have been hurled, and the degree of his superior strength 

may be proved. Or thus as far as the horrors and the 

depth of this pit are removed from the bliss and height of 
heaven, so far has the thunder of the Almighty surpassed the 
strength of our arms. Now, this full meaning can be clearly 
brought out from the elliptical phraseology of the poet, only 
by one mode of intonation. If the word ' what,' in its two 
places be given with an emphasis of the downward octave, 
forcibly aspirated, and with a loud concrete ; and if the suc- 
ceeding words within the notes of admiration, be also intona- 
ted with downward vanishes, the true astonishment of the 
sentiment and the measure of the conquest will be shown. 



A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 313 

And further, if a cadence and a pause be made at ' fall'n,' and 
if 'so much' be strongly emphatic, the reference of the com- 
parison to the strength of the thunder, will be perceived ; and 
the sense will come upon the ear, in that laconic eloquence 
with which it was condensed and felt in the imagination of the 
poet. 

Fourthly. When the structure of a sentence is so much 
involved as to produce a momentary hesitation in an audience, 
about its concord or government, the syntax may be rendered 
perspicuous by means of emphasis, as in this example : 



He stood, and called 
His legions, Angel forms, who lay entranced 
Thick as Autumnal leaves that strow the brooks 
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades, 
High over-arched, embower ; or scattered sedge 
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed 
Hath vexed the Red-sea coast. 



If this passage stood thus ' Thick as autumnal leaves, in Val- 
lombrosa, or scattered sedge afloat,' &c. there could be no 
hesitation about the construction. But the chain of parenthe- 
tic specifications between ' leaves' and ' or,' together with the 
picturesque association, and the beauty of the phraseology,- — 
makes us for a moment lose sight of that intended transition 
to another subject of illustration, which should be immediate 
and perspicuous. For the substitutive sense of the conjunc- 
tion 'or,' is not at once so plain, that the phrase 'scattered 
sedge,' might not, in the moment of utterance, be prospective- 
ly taken as a nominative in some new course of the subject. 
But if the clause 'thick as autumnal leaves,' which shows a 
comparison, be emphatically raised into memorable notice, and 
if the succeeding words, extending to the semicolon, be hur- 
ried, yet becomingly, the subsequent emphasis on ' scattered 
sedge afloat,' will at once refer the ear back to the last similar 
distinction of the voice, on 'autumnal leaves,' and thus indi- 
cate that the angel forms lay likewise as thick as the scattered 
sedge afloat. 

This element of expression, for so it is, was called, in the 
section on Grouping, the Emphatic tie : and certainly in the 
2P 



314 A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 

present case it has no other object than to join these dissevered 
thoughts ; since in a more natural and perspicuous connexion 
there would be no call for the emphatic distinction. 



Having thus enumerated the various modes of time, quality, 
stress and intonation, by which certain words or syllables are 
brought conspicuously before the ear, the reader is prepared 
to receive the term emphasis with a wider definition than is 
usually given to it. 

Emphasis is a generic term for the extraordinary impressive- 
ness of the sense or sentiment of words : the species of im- 
pression being founded on the varied accidents of the voice. 

From this view it appears, that Emphasis, and what we 
have called Expression, may be considered in most cases, as 
convertible generic terms : since emphatic words differ from 
such as are unemphatic, through those functions which con- 
stitute the proper expression of speech. 

The preceding analysis will enable us to display the whole 
compass of the art of reading, with some amplitude of plan 
and accuracy of delineation. Words, as symbols of meaning, 
may be considered under three aspects : as representatives of 
simple thought ; as indicative of an enforcing of thought ; and 
as expressive of passion. The progress of the voice in speak- 
ing, is called melody. The course of melody under the di- 
rection of simple thought^ is through the interval of a tone in 
the radical change, with a concrete rise of a tone from each of 
those radicals. But the portions of discourse which represent 
simple thought, are limited : those thoughts are to be enforced, 
and passions are to be expressed. The tenor of the simple 
diatonic melody is therefore often interrupted, by an occur- 
rence of higher intervals of the scale, both in the concrete and 
discrete forms. Thus it appears that those transitions of pitch 
which were called phrases of melody, and were said to be 
seven in number, are multiplied by the use of some of the 
above mentioned elements of emphasis. For on the principle 
which suggested the name of the ditone, we have by the em- 
ployment of the radical change of higher intervals, the Phrase 
of the Third, and Fifth, and Octave, both in an upward and 
downward direction. 



A BECAPITULAT1NG VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 315 

If the reader has understood rightly the description of the 
functions of the voice, the pages of the historian and the poet, 
will suggest to him the occasions for their application. The 
ways of simple narrative, the places and modes of stress and of 
intonation, have been exemplified, in reference to the sense 
and sentiment of discourse. If the scheme is sufficiently clear, 
the reader may trace the general outline of speech : and if his 
mind is large and liberal enough to let in other thoughts than 
those of interest and daily fame, he may herein possess and 
enjoy, at least the picture of a simple and beautiful system of 
nature, if he can not by practical means offer it for sale or ap- 
plause. 

The possession of a good ear, together with a resolute prac- 
tice, will be necessary for the precise recognition, and skilful 
employment of the enumerated elements. But a full under- 
standing of the mere theory of speech, as laid down in this 
essay, without an accomplished practical execution of its rules, 
will enable one to overlook the exercises of others, with the 
decisive commendation or censure of an intelligent criticism : 
to carry the steady arm of principles, against the self-conflicting 
councils, and changeful orders of authority: to hold out against 
error with the real defences of opinion ; and to associate the 
delightful but passing perceptions of the ear, with the con- 
tinued and busy pleasures of mental discrimination. 

When the ingenuous reader reviews the preceding history, I 
must beg him to bear in mind its object. The purpose was to 
analyze the functions of speech, without a strict limitation of 
the search to those points which might be readily cognizable 
in ordinary utterance, or practically important in oratorical 
instruction. I have recorded no phenomenon, the discovery 
of which has not been the result of patient observation and ex- 
periment. There are many parts of the detail that will at once 
be recognized by the competent critic : others will be after- 
wards received into the growing familiarity of his inquiry : 
whilst some of the descriptions, even if admitted to be true, 
will still be considered as niceties of disputable application, 
and beyond the assigning power of rule. As a physiologist, I 
conceive I have done no more than my duty in this record, 
however presently useless some of its minutiae may be. Much 
of the accumulated wealth of science is not at interest ; but the 



316 A RECAPITULATING VIEW OF EMPHASIS. 

borrowers may one day come. I am ready to admit, that some 
distinctions in this history, may be practically disregarded. 
Thus 1 have described the several forms of stress as palpably 
differing functions ; and they are absolutely so made in speech : 
yet I have not ventured to insist on the importance of the dif- 
ference in all cases. So in the discrimination of the intervals 
of the scale, I have endeavoured to give the true physiological 
account of these functions : but I have not taken upon me to 
exclude the fourth, sixth and seventh from the speaking voice. 
Nor would 1 wish it to be thought that some of the intervals 
of intonation, may not on occasions, be used as substitutes for 
each other, without affecting the force or precision of speech. 
I was also far from ascribing particular expressions to the nu- 
merous possible forms of the wave. 

In thus opening the way for a change of elocution from an 
imitative art, with its inherent defects, to a science with all its 
constituent usefulness and beauty, it was necessary to set forth 
every existing function : that the materials might thereby be 
furnished towards the future establishment of a system of in- 
struction, for those who have the rare aim in scholarship of 
seeking high accomplishment, through the abundant encom- 
passing of principles, and the condensing economy of system- 
atic means. That the inquiry into this subject has produced 
much that will be imperceptible to the first scrutinies of the 
general ear, I must be convinced from the past history of hu- 
man improvement. The work of vocal mystery, has been at 
all times so despairingly abandoned, as beyond the reach of 
analytic perception, that this supposed impossibility alone will 
form a heavier argument against its admission, than the real 
but surmountable difficulty of encountering nature in new 
fields of sensation. Many who in fine organization of ear, and 
a capability of delicate analysis, possess the means of successful 
investigation will, too probably, shrink from the labours of 
experiment, and seek to justify infirmity of resolution, by de- 
fensively assuming the hopelessness of trial. 



THE DRIFT OF THE "VOICE. 317 

SECTION XLVI. 

Of the Drift of the Voice. 

He who listens to a good reader, may perceive that his 
voice is not only adapted to the varying indications of the sen- 
timents which lie in individual words, but that there is a style 
in the movement which runs through the parts or the whole of 
a discourse ; is accommodated to its reigning sentiment or 
spirit ; is identical during the prevalence of that spirit, and 
changes with its variations. Every one recognizes this differ- 
ence in manner between a facetious description, and a solemn 
invocation from the pulpit ; between the vehement stress of 
anger, and the well known whining of complaint. It is to 
this continuation of the same style, whatever the repeated ele- 
ment or elements may be, that I apply the term Drift of the 
voice. 

On this subject I have no new modes of utterance to describe: 
the preceding history furnishes all the elements that respec- 
tively join to make the various drifts of discourse. I am only 
about to enumerate these drifts and refer them to the heads of 
their several constituent elements ; that in this essential part 
of elocution the scholar may have a definite perception of his 
duty, and a knowledge of all the means by which it is to be 
accomplished. This subject is not unnecessarily specified by 
a name ; nor is it uselessly offered to the studious attention of 
the reader : for if a particular drift is required throughout a 
portion of discourse, or the whole of it, any interruption of 
the assumed tenor, will offend the ear; or at least will be a 
failure of the aims of elocution. Thus, when the sentiment is 
plaintive and consequently demands the semitonic intonation, 
the introduction of a tone or second will be no less disagreeable, 
than an offence against time and tune in music. 

The real existence and effective operation of drift being 
admitted, the question before us is — Upon what functions of 
the voice it is founded ; and how many different forms may it 
employ ? 



318 THE DRIFT OF THE VOICE. 

1 have described all the functions of the voice which are 
known to me ; the nature of drift must, therefore, in my view, 
be resolvable into the enumerated elements of speech. These 
elements have been considered under the modes of their indi- 
vidual construction, their expressive meaning, and their appli- 
cation in the limited sphere of emphasis. Our present view of 
them regards their distinguishing effect when continued in a 
current melody. 

The question, How many different styles the drift may 

assume, is to be a'nswered by ascertaining which of the ele- 
ments can be heard in succession on any indefinite number of 
syllables, without offending the ear by monotony : for there are 
some which can not be repeated without producing this dis- 
agreeable effect. As a general proposition, it may be asserted 
that most of the specific forms of time, stress and intonation, 
may, as occasion requires, be applied in continuation without 
violating propriety or taste. There are again, some elements 
which we dare employ only on a few or on solitary syllables, 
and which can not therefore make a drift in discourse. 

On the subject of this successive use of the elements, it is 
necessary to remark, that though the peculiar character of the 
drift may be sustained throughout a whole sentence, yet the 
function which produces it, can in some cases, be executed 
only on certain syllables. Thus, in the expression of dignity 
by means of long quantities, the unaccented syllables can not 
bear a protracted time : still the character of dignity will pre- 
vail, even with this limited application. 

Let us enumerate the various kinds of drift. 

The Diatonic DRIFT. The diatonic melody was said to 
be that mode of utterance which is used for simple narrative 
or description ; being destitute of the marked expression that 
respectively belongs to question, argument and passion. The 
style of this melody is produced by the concrete rise of a tone, 
and by a change of radical pitch through the same interval. 
The employment of any other element in discourse of this 
kind, would be disagreeable. Suppose, for instance, an adver- 
tisement in a gazette to be read with the solemn drift of a 
protracted quantity, or in the plaintive style of the semitone ; 
no one would be in doubt concerning this improper applica- 
tion of time an9 intonation. 



THE DRIFT OF THE VOICE. 319 

In the usual course of the diatonic melody, perhaps the up- 
ward concretes predominate : the downward vanish of the 
second, being occasionally introduced for variety ; but when 
required by the gravity of the subject it may without monotony 
constitute a drift. 

The DRIFT of the Semitone. I said enough formerly on 
the subject of the chromatic melody ; it exemplifies the present 
head. This style is spread throughout discourse of a plaintive, 
tender, and supplicating character. It was proved in its pro- 
per place, that every interval is practicable on every kind 
of quantity. The semitone, therefore, in its drift is heard on 
every syllable however short : and even though unaccented. 

The DRIFT of the Downward Vanish. It was said the 
falling second is sometimes used as a drift. The downward third 
and even the fifth are occasionally heard in continuation. Their 
currents express surprise and confidence, and when enforced by 
stress, a warmth of conviction and temper. The following 
indignant argument from the pleading of Volumnia in Corio- 
lanus bears the downward third throughout. 

Come let us go : 
This fellow had a Volcian to his mother; 
His wife is in Corioli, and this child 
Like him by chance: — 

A continuation of the downward intervals, forms, as we have 
seen, the drift of exclamatory sentences. 

The DRIFT of the Wave of the Second. This element 
is used in continuation on long quantities, for occasions of so- 
lemn, deliberate, and dignified speech. 1 do not say this wave 
may not be passed through on syllables of moderately pro- 
tracted time, and even on those which we have called muta- 
ble : but it is on long-drawn or indefinite quantities that the 
effects ascribed to it as a drift, become conspicuous. 

The DRIFT of the Wave of the Semitone. This is the 
most common form of the semitonic style ; since the senti- 
ments associated with the chromatic melody generally call for 
slow time and long quantities. Upon the subject of this and 
of the preceding head, we must bear in mind that both the di- 
rect and inverted modes of these waves are used interchangea- 
bly in their respective melodies. 



320 THE DRIFT OF THE VOICE. 

The DRIFT of Quantity. The most attractive styles of 
speech are formed of the accident of Time. In discourse con- 
taining the sentiments of gaiety, mirth, anger, and other similar 
emotions, the utterance is quick, and this is generally com- 
bined with the simple concrete of the second, together with 
the radical or vanishing stress. The drift of long quantity is 
set on solemn, plaintive, and dignified composition. 

One might make a threefold division of the temporal Drift ; 
into that of — quick, — median, and — slow time. 

The DRIFT of Radical Stress. In the section on em- 
phasis I pointed out the sentiments which require the ap- 
plication of this radical force to single words. But these 
sentiments sometimes prevail throughout discourse, and con- 
sequently the element of stress which they assume in contin- 
uation, imparts to melody the character of a drift. 

The DRIFT of the Median Stress. This is necessari- 
ly connected with long quantity ; and generally with the wave 
of the second and semitone. Its drift is not very distinguish- 
able from that of the last named elements r for a protracted 
time on these intervals is always the sign of that dignity which 
generally admits the use of this median swell. 

The DRIFT of the Vanishing Stress. This element was 
shown to be applicable to all the intervals of the scale. But 
as a drift it can be employed only on the rise and the wave of 
the second and semitone, and on the downward third and fifth. 
The vanishing stress whether in the diatonic or chromatic me- 
lody, marks a considerable degree of energy in sentiment ; and 
communicates to the current of discourse a style of utterance 
which can not be mistaken. 

The DRIFT of Force. Loudness and Softness when re- 
spectively heard in continuation, do so impress the ear with 
their distinct peculiarities, as to constitute styles of utterance ; 
and the failure to fulfil the demands of sentiment on either of 
these points, must be included among the faults of speech. — 
Who will deny that there are some occasions, on which the 
drift of comparative softness of voice would be entirely ridi- 
culous : and others again, on which that of loudness would be 
disgusting bombast ! 

These ten modes of drift do, by the continued use of their 
respective elements, impress a peculiar characteristic on ex- 
tended portions of discourse. 



THE DRIFT OF THE VOICE. 321 

Of the other elements none are allowable in that continua- 
tion which, according to our previous account of drift, would 
•constitute a current style. And yet the application of some 
of them to phrases, extends so much beyond the limits of em- 
phasis, that they deserve a place next in order to the real 
drifts. If the reader is disposed to give them a name, founded 
on their nature, they might be called Partial drifts : thus we 
have, 

The Partial DRIFT of the Tremor. I have hinted that 
the tremulous movement is proper only on short passages, — 
passages of syllabic crying if I might so speak ; but that it 
would be monotonous if kept up through a long line of dis- 
course. And here let it be understood that though a drift is 
by its nature a monotony, or continuance of the same voice, 
still it is rather satisfactorily expressive, than disagreeable 
when made on certain elements. The tremor however is not 
one of them. 

The Partial DRIFT of the Aspiration. The sentiments 
which give rise to this symbol are like those of the preceding 
head, generally limited to temporary portions of melody. 
When so applied, the character of utterance justly entitles it 
to the name of drift. 

The Partial DRIFT of the Guttural Emphasis. The 
scornful feeling which calls for this element, is sometimes 
continued for more than the time and the solitary occasions of 
emphasis ; and thus makes a partial drift. 

The DRIFT of Interrogation. The reader may recol- 
lect that the third, fifth and octave are the intervals of intona- 
tion in a question. The partial form of their use in interroga- 
tion, so rarely exceeds the employment of them in emphasis, 
that they can scarcely in this case be entitled to the name of 
drift. But in those questions which are of declarative con- 
struction, or that otherwise demand the thorough intonation, 
the predominance of these wide and impressive intervals gives 
that peculiar character which the common ear at once per- 
ceives and comprehends. Still as questions are but portions 
of discourse, and as these high intervals are never used in con- 
tinuation for any other purpose, this form of drift must be 
considered as partial. 

The Partial DRIFT of the Phrases of Melody. The 
2Q 



322 THE DRIFT OF THE VOICE. 

Monotone and the phrase of Alternation are sometimes seve- 
rally used in continuation on certain portions of discourse, of 
greater extent than those to which these phrases are appropri- 
ate, in the plain and more common construction of the current 
melody. In a former section peculiar expressions were as- 
cribed to these two phrases when continuously employed : 
consequently when such a condition of the melody occurs, it 
gives, according to its nature, the partial drift of the monotone 
or alternation. 

It may be made a question, how far Quality of voice, when 
given to a part or the whole of discourse, might constitute a 
drift. The fulness of the orotund may impart to utterance a 
character of dignity which is at once distinguishable from the 
meagre huskiness and forceless efforts of uncultivated speech. 

The compound stress and the loud concrete differ so slightly 
from the radical and vanishing modes of force, and from each 
other, that it would be a mere refinement to found styles of 
drift upon them. 

Such then are the elements which may appear throughout 
the whole of a discourse ; or be set restrictively on one or a 
few sentences. 

There are a few elements of which a drift cap not be made. 

It was said that interrogative sentences of the Thorough kind 
might be regarded as carrying a partial drift of the third, fifth 
or octave. But with the exception of this case, these inter- 
vals are never in correct speech used in continuation. The 
minor third, though a plaintive interval, is too peculiar in its 
kind to be tolerated as a drift. Its effect will be shown when 
we treat of the faults of speakers. 

As a current style of the simple movement through these 
wider ranges of the scale, is forbidden in melody, so the com- 
bination of them into the higher kinds of wave, can not be ex- 
tended beyond the limited places of emphasis. There is how- 
ever a drift of this kind observable as a fault in readers : nay, 
some, in their formal efforts, can command no other style of 
intonation. But the least cultivation of ear rejects the repe- 
tition of these florid elements. 

I need scarcely say, the emphatic vocule can not be made the 
basis of drift. 

There is a prominent feature in the art of reading, which 



THE DRIFT OF THE VOICE. 323 

seems nearly related to the subject of this section. I mean the 
notable change of voice in the transition, by a good reader, from 
one paragraph or division of discourse to another. It may be 
supposed that this point is already included in the foregoing 
history of drift. When any strong or peculiar sentiment is 
contained in the new paragraph, it will indeed be marked by 
the required style. But without seeing the page, we can 
sometimes perceive that a reader is passing to a new subject, 
even where there is no striking alteration of expression : and 
where the plain diatonic melody continues in use after the 
transition. 

In such cases the peculiar effect is produced by several agen- 
cies. First By the period which precedes the change, be- 
ing made with that most complete close which we called the pre- 
pared cadence. This indicates the termination of the subject 
in hand, and thereby implies the introduction of a new one. 

Secondly By a pause longer than that between sentences 

which are nearly related to each other. Thirdly By the 

succeeding sentence or paragraph beginning at a pitch above or 

below the line of the previous current. Fourthly By a 

striking effect from the phrases of melody applied to the out- 
set of a new topic. 

These vocal indicials make the change of subject obvious, 
in those cases in which a peculiar construction of the com- 
mencing phrase defers the development of its sense, and ren- 
ders it impossible to discover by the few first words, whether 
the proximate sentences are immediately or remotely related 
to each other. 

From a review of this subject, it appears, that many of the 
elements of expression may be in continual use, without pro- 
ducing a monotonous effect : that some can carry their drift 
but to a certain extent, whilst others do not bear an application 
beyond the solitary place of emphasis. It appears, too, that 
those which are inadmissible as a general characteristic, are 
elements of very striking properties, reserved for the higher 
purposes of emphatic distinction. Thus the downward eighth 
has the most impressive intonation ; and is never used in drift. 
The case is similar with the higher forms of the wave ; and 
the rising third, fifth and octave, when not employed for inter- 
rogation. 



324 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

After what has been said, a little attention will show that 
several styles may exist at onee in the same melody. Thus 
the drifts of the second, of short time, of the radical or the 
vanishing stress, and of loudness may be united. In like man- 
ner we may have a combination of the drifts of the wave of the 
second, of long quantity, of the median stress, of loudness or 
of softness. In short, the reader can ascertain which of them 
may be associated, by knowing the compatible qualities of the 
several elements : for they are united in the practice of the 
voice, in every possible way. 

I have not thought it necessary to give extracts from authors 
to illustrate the various kinds of drift. After all that has been 
said of the accidents of the voice and their species, in former 
sections, together with the foregoing history of their applica- 
tion in a continued style of speech, I need not waste time on 
those explanations which the intelligence of the reader will 
easily supply. For I am not less solicitous to restrict the 
number of the pages of this essay, than to extend the measure 
of its instruction. 



SECTION XLVII. 
Of the Vocal Signs of the Passions. 

I have already given a physiological description of the func- 
tions of the voice, and have pointed out their expressive powers 
as far as they denote simple thought, sentiment, feeling, emo- 
tion, or any other named condition of the mind. This should 
satisfy the reader j since it describes in its own general way, 
all that to me, at least, is audible and capable of measurement. 
But former systems of elocution having embraced an inquiry, 
however fruitless, on the delineation of the passions in speech; 
such a view, though superfluous after what has been said, may 
perhaps be demanded at my hand. 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 325 

There is a hypocritical compliment always paid to original- 
ity, the contradictory spirit of which is, that mankind are eager 
to receive what is new, provided it is told in the old way. I 
can imagine that a few of my readers, even after all I have 
written on the elements of expression and the sentiments re- 
presented by them, may still, through the influence of habit, 
ask for a separate chapter on the passions. Having therefore 
fulfilled my duty to the subject, by saying in a general way 
what was necessary, about the thing, 1 am now going to satisfy 
a prejudice by a formal detail under the word. But let it be 
distinctly understood, that this is done only for the purpose of 
giving another aspect to the subject of expression: and not in 
a forced or politic submission to any expected perversity of 
criticism. I observe and write for those who have the intelli- 
gence and candor to admit a history of the development of 
nature, even though they may not be at the pains to make the 
discovery for themselves. And I hope it may always be far 
from my wishes, to bring into subjection to authority or pre- 
judice, that truth and energy of philosophy which will always 
rule when suffered to operate : that philosophy which weak 
men compliment, by coveting its honors : and which would, 
ere now, have been effectually employed to make us both wiser 
and happier than we are, if a perfect home-bred contentment 
did not prevent its votaries from urging its benefits on the 
unwilling world, with all that art and perseverance through 
which stirring vanity, that knows no retired comfort, forces 
its worthless labors on mankind. 

I took upon me (it is hoped not presumptuously,) in the in- 
troduction, to represent our knowledge in some of the depart- 
ments of elocution, as limited ; and I have adhered to an early 
resolution to avoid quotation, not only because its duties are 
tiresome, but because in these departments there is much that 
is unintelligible, and more that is erroneous. 1 am now about 
to leave, for a moment, the beautiful prototype of nature, to 
contrast her lights, with the mysterious shades of the opinions 
of men. 

No author, I believe, has paid more attention to intonation, 
particularly as regards its practical application, than Mr. Walk- 
er. Indefinite as he is on this point, he far exceeds in preci- 
sion and useful rule, all that is said by Aristotle, Cicero, Dio- 



326 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PA.SSIONS. 

nysius, Quinctilian and the old musicians. It is true, Mr. 
Walker owes his superficial analysis to them : but in his ac- 
count of the application of inflection, if not in the real know- 
ledge of it, he fairly ' treads upon that Greek and Roman 
glory,' which national vanity first proclaimed, and the subse- 
quent credulity of European scholarship was simple enough 
to magnify and repeat. 

But let us h^ftr what Mr. Walker says of the vocal repre- 
sentation of the passions. 

' It now remains,' observes this author,* 'to say something 
of the passions and emotions of the speaker. These are en- 
tirely independent on the modulation of the voice, though 
often confounded with it : for modulation relates only to 
speaking loudly or softly, in a high or in a low key, while the 
tones of the passions or emotions mean only that quality of 
sound that indicates the feelings of the speaker without refer- 
ence to the pitch, or loudness of the voice.' 

Again in the hundred and sixty-sixth page. 

' The truth is, the expression of passion or emotion consists 
in giving a distinct and specific quality to the sounds ws use, 
rather than in increasing or diminishing their quantity, or in 
giving this quantity any local direction.' 

And again in another work.t 

'As to the tones of the passions which are so many and so 
various, these in the opinion of one of the best judges in the 
kingdom, are qualities of sound occasioned by certain vibra- 
tions of the organs of speech, independent on high, low, loud, 
soft, quick, slow, forcible or feeble.' 

It often happens with the aspirants after science in the 
schools, as it did with those who underwent the mummery of 
admission to the mysteries of Eleusis, — to hear themselves 
addressed in an incomprehensible language. What instruction 
for instance can be gathered from this definition ? — 'The tones 
of the passions mean only that quality of sound that indi- 
cates the feelings.' Here instead of an explanatory description 
of a thing, we are presented with a truism in a paraphrase. 

*Elements of Elocution, page 308. Am. Ed. 

(■Observations on Greek and Latin quantity, appended to Walker's Key to 
the pronunciation of ancient proper names. 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 327 

For, as the terms ' passions' and ' feelings' are here synonymous, 
as well as those of ' tone' and 'quality of sound,' the proposition 
may stand thus : ' the tones of the (or the tones which indicate 
the) passions, mean only the tones which indicate the pas- 
sions :' or with less waste thus; 'the tones of the passions are 
the tones of the passions.' 

But the second extract seems to contain a real distinction be- 
tween the subject and the predicate : because by 'quality' the 
author may mean that accident of sound, which in this essay 
was specified by the terms — full, harsh, soft, slender, natural, 
falsette, whisper and orotund ; for these are the only existing 
qualities of sound, besides those which Mr. Walker has ex- 
cluded from the definition. But if pitch, which is here meant 
by 'local direction,' be denied a place among the symbols 
of passion, what shall we say of the comprehensive class which 
includes the pitch of the semitone — the rising intervals which 
signify interrogation — the downward vanish which conspicu- 
ously marks the various degrees of surprise ? And in short, 
what is to be said of the effect of the different measures of time, 
and the various degrees of stress, if speaking 'loudly or softly,' 
and ' increasing or diminishing the quantity' of sound have 
nothing to do with the vocal expression of passion ? 

But the secret cause of this determination to exclude intona- 
tion and stress and time, from among the signs of the passions; 
and the reiterated attempts to resolve their symbols into a cer- 
tain unexplained word called ' quality,' is clearly manifested in 
the last quotation : for here this opinion on the physical agency 
of quality is ascribed to 'one of the best judges in the king- 
dom.' The fact is, this confused notion concerning the pas- 
sions was adopted upon authority, by Mr. Walker : and this 
mode of faith, certainly did not accord with his repeated claims 
to originality of observation. An original observer holding 
himself responsible for his report, cross-questions the testimony 
of his senses : but the borrower of opinions is less scrupulous, 
because he never stands security against the folly or mischief 
of his promulgations. 

What has been recorded in the previous history may induce 
the reader to smile at the above quotations ; and enable him to 
perceive that the symbols of the passions, consist of the Quali- 



328 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

ty or Force or Abruptness or Time or Pitch of the voice ; and 
that the greater part of their symbols are derived from those 
very accidents, which are declared by Mr. Walker to be un- 
operative in the causation of empassioned utterance. With 
regard to the ' specific quality' here assumed as the vocal ma- 
terial of expression, I am utterly at a loss to understand wheth- 
er those modes of sound which are called qualities in this 
essay, are the same which are meant by Mr. Walker's term ; 
since his account of quality is complicated with an attempt to 
derive its proximate cause, from an unintelligible system of 
vibrations. 

Let the whole pass as an instance of that unnatural paternity 
in instruction, which when asked for bread, dispenses nothing 
but a stone. And at the same time let it justify any unbecoming 
expressions which ma} 7 have escaped me, when unavoidably 
brought into contact with those errors of indolence or authority, 
which are almost unpardonable. 

In recapitulating the subject of expression under another 
title, it is not my intention to go into a dissertation on the na- 
ture of the passions, or to contend with authors about the 
scheme of their arrangement. 1 shall give that account of 
them which will answer the purpose of the present section, 
without designing to regard other relationships which they 
may hold. 

The human mind is the place of representation of all the 
existences of nature which are brought within the scope of the 
senses. These representatives are called ideas. These ideas 
are the simple passive pictures of things ; or they exist with an 
activity, capable of so affecting the physical organs as to induce 
us to seek the continuance of that which produces them; or to 
avoid it. This active or vivid class of ideas, comprehends the 
passions. The functions of the mind here described, exist then 
in different forms and degrees, from the simple idea, to the 
highest energy of passion : and the terms, thought, sentiment, 
emotion, feeling and passion are but the verbal signs of these 
degrees and forms. Nor does there appear to be any line of 
classification, for separating thought from passion : since sim- 
ple thoughts without changing their nature, do from interest 
or other incitement often assume the color of a passion. 

Such being one of the many views which may be taken of 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 329 

ideas, we pass to the consideration of the effects produced on 
the physical organs by those thoughts or feelings, constituting 
their sensible signs or expression. These signs are various, 
but we are at present concerned only with those belonging to 
the organs of the voice. 

Some of those conditions of the mind which we have called 
passions are possessed by man in common with the inferior 
animal creation. These have their expression seated conspi- 
cuously in the voice and in other muscular functions. 

Again, some states of mind are the product of human intel- 
ligence and of the social relations. These are destitute of such 
signs as nature seems to have allotted to her own original cre- 
ations. Thus, there are natural expressions both in the vocal 
organs and in other parts of the body, for pain, surprise, and 
anger ; but none of any definite character for hope, content- 
ment and gratitude. 

From this view, we learn that there are two essentially dif- 
ferent modes of expressing the various states of mind : since 
some of these thoughts, emotions, passions, call them what we 
will, are made by certain forms of stress, time, quality and 
pitch, joined to syllabic utterance ; whilst others can be indi- 
cated only by conventional terms, which do not carry any of 
the natural vocal-signs of expression. 

Thus we signify suprise by the downward emphasis, and 
complaint by the semitone ; and the meaning of these sym- 
bols is the same in all nations : but we can express a sentiment 
of gratitude or irresolution only by describing our state of 
mind, in those arbitrarily appointed terms which may vary in 
every different language. 

Though it appears we have not a peculiar vocal sign for 
every state of mind, yet it is to be remarked that all thoughts 
or passions may be expressed by the conventional language : 
for one can tell another that — he is astonished, in the most 
simple style of intonation, and thus convey the knowledge of 
the existence of that sentiment, as well as he can by the most 
striking use of the downward octave, which is its natural sym- 
bol. When astonishment is to be represented on a word or 
phrase, which does not describe it, it is necessary to employ 
the peculiar intonation which indicates this sentiment. 

One of the consequences of there being instinctive signs in 
2R 



330 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

the voice, for the expression of passion, and artificial signs in 
language, for the same purpose, is that one vocal function can 
represent two" or more passions, or degrees of passion ; for 
though the kind of intonation is the same, and therefore in 
itself can not denote different species or shades of meaning, 
yet the conventional terms serve to mark the variety. Suppose 
for instance, one should say 'be gone,' with the strongest down- 
ward vanish of the octave : and again, with the same intonation, 
' 1 am astonished ; 7 the difference between these two emotions 
of command and astonishment, would be distinctly represented 
under this identical intonation, by the words in which they are 
severally conveyed. Thus too the same semitone is used for 
the expression of pain, discontent, pity, grief and contrition i 
and yet in all these cases the different sentiments are marked by 
the conventional language on which the semitone is employed.* 

*A union of the Verbal and the Vocal modes of expression, if I may thus- 
distinguish them, seems to be so essential, that it is difficult to determine which 
is most significant in conveying the sentiments of the speaker. The power of 
giving a different meaning to the same word, by its mode of stress or intonation, 
would imply that the instinctive signs are more effective than the conventional. 
But there are other circumstances which warrant a conclusion, that we are as 
much indebted to the descriptive agency of words, as to any abstract move~ 
ment of the voice. 

I shall hereafter show, in the analysis of song, that every function of speech 
is employed in its higher style of execution : and though it is true that the semi- 
tonic movement in song has a plaintive expression, even if unconnected with 
words, still the rising and falling concretes of the third, fifth and octave, when 
not joined to discourse which coincides in sentiment with the expression of 
these intervals, are constantly heard in song, without producing the audible 
characteristics of interrogation, positiveness or surprise. The various forms of 
stress too, which have their proper expression in syllabic utterance, seem to be 
almost without meaning in the inarticulate movements of song. 

But a still more striking view of the power of language, as contrasted with ab- 
stract intonation, is displayed in the vocal functions of brute animals, and particu- 
larly of birds. 

When a familiarity with the analytic scheme of this essay will have given to the 
ear a facility of descrimination, it will be perceived that birds, in their notes, employ 
all the intervals of the concrete movement without suggesting the sentiments of 
surprise, interrogation, positiveness and scorn, together with the repose of the ca- 
dence, which would be eminently conveyed by those intervals, when joined with 
words that describe these several sentiments. The representation of plaintivenesa 
by the semitone, as in the voice of the dove, and of pleasure by the tremulous scale, 
as in the horse when snuffing his food, is indeed made without a syllabic sign, and 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 331 

I have had occasion more than once to show that the ele- 
ments of expression are always applied in combination. There 
must be at least two conjoined and there may be more. Thus 
the different forms of stress are necessarily made on an inter- 
val of pitch ; it is the same with guttural emphasis and aspira- 
tion. The intervals of pitch must be united with the accident 
of time, whether the quantity be long or short. Not one vocal 
element can exist separately ; but several are sometimes com- 
bined in a single act of utterance : for we may have under one 
syllabic impulse, a long quantity, a wide interval, aspiration, 
and some one of the modes of stress, all simultaneous in effect- 
ing a particular purpose of expression. 

yet is identical with the display of these feelings in the human voiee ; but it must 
be recollected that laughter and crying are generally inarticulate, and are thus 
merely animal signs. 

It is then the union of an arbitrary verbal description of a sentiment, with the 
natural sign of it. which constitutes the true means of expression in the human 
voice. 

I must here beg the reader to excuse a momentary digression from the subject 
of speech. In the course of this essay I might have shown many analogies be- 
tween the human voice, and that of inferior animals: but I designed to avoid 
mingling these two subjects of natural history. 

Speech is but an aggregate of the functions which are dispersedly exercised, by 
all animals : for there is scarcely a mode of quality, abruptness, time, force and in- 
tonation, which is not common to man ami to the brute. Man possesses more 
vocal signs than any one species of animal, but perhaps less than all: the princi- 
pal difference consisting in his power over the structure and chain of the syllabic 
function. 

Upon the ground of this identity, and with the light of the describable measure- 
ment, and definite nomenclature of the human voice which is set forth in this es- 
say, — What is there to prevent the voices of animals being taken into view, in 
the systematic arrangements of Zoology ? 

Naturalists have sometimes attempted this in a rude way, by a reference to al- 
phabetic sounds, and to the modes of time and stress in words and phrases. When 
boys find a resemblance in the whistle of the partridge to the words 'bob white;' 
and think they pronounce the short song of the ' whip-poor-will' in its name, the 
similarity lies in the stress and the time of utterance; for this song, as well as 
many mechanical noises, resembles, at the whim of the listener, any phrase which 
has an equal number of syllable-like impulses, and the same condition of quantity 
and accent. 

Birds in the endowments of voice, have — a Single Chirp — a Phrase of two 
or more notes ; and — a continued song which may be distinctively called their 
Melody. Some birds have only the chirp ; others, the chirp and phrase ; and a 
few, the chirp, phrase and melody. Now I am sure that a person of cultivated eajr. 



332 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

I now go on to give a summary of the modes of thought, va- 
riously called, sentiments, emotions, feelings and passions, 
which are severally signified by their instinctive or appointed 
vocal s) 7 mbols. And first of — 

Feebleness of Voice. This element of expression is con- 
tradistinguished from strength or loudness, and is here spoken 
of as a Drift, or as applied in continuation to discourse. There 
are some states of mind connected with feebleness of body, 
that are properly portrayed by feebleness of voice. The ex- 
pression here in view does not admit of the higher intervals of 
intonation, nor of the impressive modes of stress ; for these, 
and indeed other elements that might be mentioned, imply an 
energy which, by the^V*^ terms of this head of our subject, 

with -the light of classification and description contained in this eassay, would find 
no great difficulty in discovering, whether the chirp of a bird is in the concrete or 
radical pitch of a semitone, a second, or other interval; of how many movements 
the phrase consists,- and what are their places of pitch; and of what combination 
of phrases the melody is made. As far as observation extends we know that the 
voice of birds is unchangeable in the species: it is therefore as well entitled to no- 
menclature, provided it can be assigned definitely, as the feathers, beak and claws. 
If analysis had never furnished discriminative names for color and form, even these 
characteristics, like those of the voice would never have been known in the descrip- 
tions of ornithology. 

Without extending our observations to the whole range of animals, among 
which all the accidents of the human voice, even to the protracted radical and va- 
nish of song are found, I here give an outline of the vocal functions of the Mock- 
ing-bird, as illustrative of the powers which generally belong to its class. 

The Mocking-bird has every variety and degree in duality of voice from the 
delicate chirp of the sparrow, and harsh scream of the jay, to the guttural bass of 
the clucking of the hen. He uses every form of time, from a mere point of sound, 
to the duration of our most passionate interjections. He has a perfect command 
over all the intervals of the scale, both ascending and descending, and in the dis- 
crete as well as the concrete pitch. His simple concrete exhibits the most beauti- 
ful structure of the radical and vanish. He performs the wave in its equal and 
unequal, its direct and inverted forms, through all intervals : but I can not say that 
he uses its double movement. He exhibits all the modes of stress on the concrete, 
which belong to the human voice. Its compound species which constitutes the 
proper vocal shake, he has in great perfection. It is the diatonic shake, the se- 
mitonic not being found in his song, nor, as far as I know, in that of any other 
bird. He makes great use of the tremor, both in a continued line of pitch, and in 
every diverse movement through the scale. His tremor has not the chromatic 
character, as far as I recollect it ; for my observation of the bird has been tran- 
sient, and never with a view to the present record. Some other birds have a tre- 
mor of a plaintive expression. The structure of his song is that of chirp, phrase, 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 333 

is excluded from its signs. Some of the conditions and senti- 
ments requiring a feeble voice, are humility, modesty, shame, 
doubt, irresolution, apathy, fatigue, caution and tranquillity. 
These generally emplo}^ the simple diatonic melody: but there 
are some emotions, which together with feebleness, use the 
semitone, and the wave of the second. Of this kind are grief, 
pity and awe. 

Loudness of voice. This element as the reverse of the last, 
is appropriated to states of mind which are associated with 
muscular energy, and vivid degrees of passion. There are a 
great many sentiments signified by this symbol ; for besides 
those which employ it as a leading characteristic, such as rage, 
wrath, danger and horror, there are some that depend, for their 

and melody. His melody however is very short : the apparent continuity of its 
powerful and rapid evolutions consisting of an endless permutation of chirps and 
short phrases ; for I have not been able to perceive any formal order in their suc- 
cessions. 

It may thus be seen that the vocal elements of the Mocking-bird, like those of 
the human organs, are few in number; but in each case our ignorance of their 
analysis has created a belief that they are infinite. The union of their combina- 
ble forms makes them appear more numerous than they are: thus a certain qua- 
lity or interval, may be heard in succession under every variety of time ; and the 
same concrete, or tremor or shake is heard upon one breath, in several different 
qualities, and in as many different places of pitch. 

The doctrine of the signs of the passions in speech, is strictly applicable to the 
voices of inferior animals, as regards those sounds which are purely vocal and sep- 
arate from words. Thus the repeated chirp, which seems to be the idle and un- 
meaning voice of birds, is generally a short quantity, upon a single rising or fall- 
ing concrete second, and rarely, as far as I have observed, on the wider intervals. 
A prolongation of the chirp is usually expressive of their passions and appetites. 
Pain, love, and fear, are always exhibited in the movement of the semitone. — But 
I am agreeably led on towards an arrangement, when I designed only to suggest 
the scheme to others. j 

The subject is at least curious, if not useful. But it lies out of my way. There 
are in all sciences large volumes of compilation ; let us have from some natural- 
ist with a good ear, a little book of original truth on the matter here proposed. 
Let it be done by pure and persevering observation. Let the author not lose his 
strong breath of usefulness and fame, by a puerile precipitancy after reputation ; 
nor hasten with his unripeness, in the market-like fear of being forestalled . Patient 
and enthusiastic study, independent observation and thought, and a disinterested 
love of truth, with their sure and great results in science, are always solitary in an 
age, and can not therefore be forestalled : — and on this point, as in promises of 
another kind to man, it will be with those who seek the eternal truths of know- 
ledge, that ' the Last shall be First.' 



334 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

expression chiefly on intonation or stress, which do at the same 
time assume the character of loudness. Of this class are aston- 
ishment, exultation and laughter. 

Quickness of Voice. In as much as quickness of the cur- 
rent melody generally goes with a Short Quantity in individual 
syllables, I shall not make separate heads for these two sub- 
jects. Some of the states of mind that fall under this division, 
are likewise expressed by other symbols, particularly by that 
of Loudness, last mentioned; as rage, wrath, mirth, raillery 
and impatience. It also happens that many of the sentiments 
which have their principal signs in forms of intonation and 
stress, are associated also with quickness of voice. 

Slowness of Voice. A Slow time of discourse, if not made 
by Long quantities on single syllables, would be offensive from 
its pauses. These two forms of time therefore necessarily in- 
volve each other. Slowness of time and long quantity are 
generally joined with the element of the wave ; since the re- 
turn or contrary flexure of intervals is one of the means for pro- 
ducing an extension of time without destroying the nature of 
the equable concrete of speech. They are an essential cause of 
dignified utterance, and are therefore always united with those 
intonations which bear this expression : Slowness of time, with 
its constituent long quantity, is used as the symbol of many emo- 
tions or passions ; among which may be enumerated sorrow, 
grief, respect, veneration, dignity, apathy, contrition, and all 
other sentiments that embrace the idea of deliberation. 

Quality of Voice. I have more than once spoken of the 
Quality or kind of voice. I need not here repeat all the terms 
by which its species are commonly noted. But the following 
are some of them, with the passions annexed. Harshness is 
affected by anger and imperative authority : softness by grief, 
modesty and commiseration : the whisper, which is a kind of 
voice, by secrecy. The falsette is heard in the whine of pee- 
vishness ; in the high tremulous pitch of mirth ; and in the 
piercing scream of terror. The full body of the orotund, in a 
cultivated speaker, gives satisfactory expression to all those 
sentiments which are grounded in solemnity and grandeur. 

The Semitone. The simple rise of the semitone is rather 
an unfrequent element of expression ; since most of those pas- 
sions which call for its plaintive intonation, and there are many 






THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 3.35 

of this kind, require a long quantity, and consequently are 
properly expanded into the wave of this interval. Still com- 
plaint, grief, and the other emotions of like import, may some- 
times be made with an earnestness or spirit which requires a 
short syllabic time. In this case the voice can not bear the de- 
lay of the wave, and effects all the purposes of the semitonic 
intonation by the simple rise or fall through the concrete, with 
the addition, when necessary, of the radical or vanishing stress. 

The Second or Tone. All those states of mind which 
accompany what may be called mere thought, in contradis- 
tinction to passion : all those narratives or descriptions which 
represent things as they are in themselves, without reference to 
our relationships to them, on the point of pleasure or pain, de- 
sire or aversion, interest or injury — these are all represented 
by the plain unobtrusive interval of the second. 

The other elements of expression have something striking 
in their character which the attentive student may easily re- 
cognize. When, therefore, none of these are obvious, he may 
conclude that the current of speech is in the diatonic melody ; 
that is, the syllabic utterance, is through the rise or fall, and 
the radical change of a tone. 

The Rising Third, Fifth and Octave. I have thrown 
these intervals into the same class because they are generally 
used to express different degrees of a passion. They represent, 
according to the extent of the interval employed, interrogation 
under the different features of dignity and of earnestness. They 
mark admiration, and hence are frequently used as means for 
emphatic distinction. When united with aspiration they do 
the part of the downward intervals of the scale, and indicate 
surprise and its congenial emotions. They express a condi- 
tional sense when used on emphatic words. The octave has 
the power of raillery, of quaintness and of mockery. When 
the guttural emphasis is united with these intervals, particu- 
larly the higher, it adds scorn to a question ; and joins to their 
character in emphasis, the sentiments of haughtiness, disdain, 
indignation, contempt and scorn. The deliberate execution of 
these high intervals requires long quantity in syllables : but in 
their simple rise, they have not that protracted duration, and 
consequently that solemn and dignified character which be- 
longs to them when doubled into the form of the wave. 



336 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

The rising Minor Third has the general character of the ex- 
pression of the semitone. But it seems to be less adapted to 
Speech, except where the emphasis calls for something of the 
cry. 

The Downward Third, Fifth and Octave. In general 
description, we may say these intervals severally express dif- 
ferent degrees of the same sentiments. They are emphatically 
appropriated as the signs of surprise, astonishment, wonder 
and amazement ; and though the terms of these emotions, are 
by no means synonimous, still the emotions themselves are 
each and all effectually represented by any one of the above 
named intervals. The designation of the specific difference 
being made by the conventional meaning of the words on 
which the element is employed, and not by any power of in- 
tonation; for this, by the condition of the cases here consider- 
ed, is identical in each instance. These downward intervals 
denote a positiveness of mind ; and a settled conviction on the 
part of the speaker : hence they are given to phrases significa- 
tive of authority, command, confidence, and satisfaction. — 
A downward movement is, as we have seen, the symbol cf a 
pause in the sense, at the place of a cadence : and consequent- 
ly is well suited to express those sentiments which have some 
affinity with that state of repose ; such as resignation, despair, 
and the condition of mind that attends fatigue. What was 
said of the rising minor third, is applicable to its use in a 
downward direction. 

The Wave of the Semitone. I spoke of the simple rise 
and fall of the semitone ; but its return or contrary flexure in- 
to the wave, is by far the most common form of this expres- 
sive element. Indeed I do not know a symbol of speech which 
represents so many and such various emotions : the specific 
distinction of the cases depending on the phraseology or term 
in which the emotion is conveyed. The wave of the semitone 
differs from the simple interval, in the dignity of the expres- 
sion derived from its extended quantity : and in its enhanced 
degree, from the repetition of the element in a contrary direc- 
tion. Sorrow, grief, vexation, chagrin, repining, contrition, 
impatience, peevishness, compassion, mercy, commiseration, 
condolence, pity, love, fondness, supplication, fatigue, and 
pain — with all the differences which may exist between them, 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 337 

are still expressed by this intonation of the wave of the semi- 
tone. 

The Wave of the Second. The interval of the second, 
whether in a rising or falling direction, being the symbol se- 
lected by nature for plain unimpassioned discourse, we can not 
properly call it an element of expression. But as the down- 
ward return of this element into the form of the wave, produ- 
ces a long quantity, it necessarily adds to the second the 
peculiar effect of that quantity. It is this element, when ex- 
tremely protracted, that gives to discourse a full character of 
dignity, solemnity and grandeur, without infecting it with the 
vivid coloring which belongs to the other accidents of quality, 
abruptness and force, and to the wider intervals of intonation. 

The Waves of the Third, Fifth and Octave. The forms 
of the wave are so various, that it would far exceed the ele- 
mentary purpose of this work to attempt to enumerate them, 
and to assort them with the passions. I sufficiently unfolded, 
in a former section, the principles on which their expressions 
depend. The character of the above-named intervals in their 
simple form, has a large influence in determining the ex- 
pression of the wave. The upward vanish of the last constitu- 
ent of the inverted forms has the force of interrogation ; and 
the downward course of the last constituent of the direct, car- 
ries the expression of surprise. If then the wave has the 
same character as the simple element, without the conjunction 
of the previous rise or fall, what need is there of its existence? 
It affords the means of giving long quantity to sylla- 
bles, and consequently of expressing the designed emotions 
with dignity. In the double form, the wave denotes sneer, 
mockery, petulance, contempt and scorn : but these two last 
are more conspicuously exhibited by conjoining an aspiration 
with the wave. 

The wave of the minor third is only a more impressive 
form of that character which belongs to its rising and falling 
constituents ; and like them, it has no place but as an occasion- 
al emphasis in the chromatic melody. 

The Radical Stress. From what was formerly said of this 
element, we know it to be the means for adding increased de- 
grees of impressiveness to all the other symbols of the passions 
which are capable of receiving it. Though it is more particu- 
2S 



338 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

larly employed on immutable syllables, yet when a discourse 
is in quick time, it is the mode of stress even on those of in- 
definite quantity. Anger, wrath, rage, impatience and mirth, 
are generally uttered with haste, and therefore take on this 
mode of stress, in emphatic places. It is employed on the 
imperative words of authority ; for it has among the modes of 
stress, a degree of positiveness similar to that which is ex- 
pressed by the downward intervals, among the modes of into- 
nation. 

The Median Stress. The radical stress was shown to be 
the means for enforcing the sentiments which employ short 
syllables. The median stress is the mode of enhancing the 
power of those which demand a long quantit) 7 , together with 
a smooth utterance. I speak of the qualification of smoothness, 
since long quantities do sometimes for particular purposes 
take on the abrupt opening of the radical, or the final jerk, 
if I may so call it, of the vanishing stress. The states of mind 
which call for the median force, are those represented by the 
waves of the various intervals ; particularly the dignity of the 
wave of the second, and the plaintiveness of that of the semi- 
tone. Of these kinds are awe, respect, deliberation, solemni- 
ty, supplication, and reverential submission. It is likewise to 
be remembered that this median stress may be executed on a 
simple rise or fall, when it is unusually prolonged ; thus the 
downward vanish of surprise may sometimes be invested with 
this mode of force. 

The Vanishing Stress. So much was said of this stress 
in a former section, and its expression was so particularly no- 
ticed, that it is unnecessary to repeat the detail here. It is a 
mode of force far inferior, in point of dignity, to the last men- 
tioned element ; but it is sometimes highly effective on those 
words which carry the passions, represented by the semitone 
and higher intervals, such as grief, surprise and interrogation: 
for by impressing the extremes of these intervals on the ear, 
it points out their several ranges more distinctly than they 
are marked by the natural vanish. 

The Compound Stress. I said formerly that this Com- 
pound stress is scarcely distinguishable from the thorough 
stress and the loud concrete. These three subjects may there- 
fore be embraced under the present head. They are indeed 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 339 

separate functions of the voice ; but in reference to any prac- 
tical application, it is unnecessary to allot different expressions 
to them. When set on immutable syllables they are identical 
in effect, with the radical and the vanishing stresses ; nor does 
their expression differ greatly from that of these elements, 
even when heard on longer quantities. Whenever the com- 
pound stress is clearly made out, which may be the ease on 
syllables unusually protracted, the expression will be more 
notable than that of either of its two constituent stresses. The 
three modes of force which are here classed together may be 
considered as the proper symbols of energy or violence of 
passion. 

The Tremor of the Second and of higher Intervals. The 
tremulous movement, when applied to the intervals here 
named, serves to designate a number of sentiments consider- 
ably different from each other. And here again we have an 
instance of a principle extensively operative in the expression 
of the passions : for these sentiments, though set within the 
same general-frame of intonation, have their specific divisions 
marked by the conventional terms which describe them. 
The tremor of the second and of higher intervals is shown in 
the expression of exultation, mirth, pride, haughtiness, sneer, 
derision and contempt ; and in effecting these expressions, the 
elements may move through the simple rise or fall, or through 
the wave. 

The Tremor of the Semitone. The tremulous movement 
through the semitone on a tonic element, is the crying-voice. 
When therefore it is used in syllabic intonation, it gives a sign 
of deeper distress to the sentiments which are associated with 
the simple semitone. These have already been enumerated, 
and need not now be repeated. All of them embrace a greater 
or less degree of the condition of suffering ; and though they 
may differ as widely as the several emotions of grief, tender- 
ness and supplication, each of which carries the semitone, yet 
when they are highly strained or become excessive, they 
naturally and alike fall into the tremulous intonation. 

The Aspiration. The reduction of the pure quality of the 
tonics and subtonics by a commixture with the aspirated ele- 
ment, produces a symbol of many and differing states of mind. 
It always accompanies the force of vociferations ; and is the 



340 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

faint sign of secrecy. It is joined with the loud utterance of 
all energetic sentiments, when they are not strained into the 
falsette. It also indicates the emotion of earnestness, curiosi- 
ty, surprise, and horror. I did, on a former occasion, assign 
the expression of contempt, sneer and scorn to the wave, par- 
ticularly in its unequal form. But even this does not carry 
the full measure of these passions, if an aspiration is not min- 
gled with the intonation: and it is still further to be remarked, 
that when the aspiration is joined with any form of the wave, 
and with any of the simple upward or downward intervals, it 
communicates to them the power of representing these last 
named passions. 

The Guttural Emphasis. This is a harsh element, and 
therefore belongs to all those states of mind which are classed 
under ill-humour ; including dissatisfaction, peevishness and 
discontent. But it likewise appears in the strained ferocity of 
rage and revenge, and is the common sign of shaming rebuke. 
It also has an import of sneer, contempt and scorn. 

Of the Emphatic Vocule. This is purely an element of 
force, and in the particular words which admit of it, is the sign 
of anger and rage, and of vehemence in any passion. It is 
however of rare occurrence ; and being almost needless in 
cultivated elocution, ought perhaps to be even more rare than 
it is. 

The Broken Melody. The current melody has been re- 
presented as a succession of intonations, employing every 
species of interval both in concrete and in radical pitch ; and 
intersected by pauses, applied as often as the sense, or a call 
for vivid delineation may require. But there are particular 
states of mind which over-rule the occasions, and grammatical 
proprieties of pausing, thereby producing notable rests after 
very short phrases, and even after every word of a sentence, 
without reference to the connexions of syntax. 1 use the term 
Broken Melody, to signify those interruptions in utterance, 
which the excess of certain passions sometimes creates. 

The nature of this function will be best explained by giving 
the physiological analysis of it. 

In the section on the mechanism of the voice, I spoke of 
two modes of expiration under which speech might be made 
one resembling an act of sighing, by which all the breath is 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 341 

sent forth in a simple impulse of short duration, and within 
which, scarcely more than one or two words can be uttered 
with ease. The other mode of expiration is used in common 
speech. Within it, we are able to utter whole sentences, by 
a frugal use of the breath, in giving out small portions at a 
time, for the successive syllables. Since the former of these 
modes, seems to draw off all the contents of the lungs, if I may 
so speak, it might be called the Exhausting breath : and the 
latter from its being held back to be dealt out as the syllables 
require it, may be called, for the want of a better name, the 
Holding breath. 

I said formerly in treating of the orotund voice, that an in- 
fant begins to speak in the exhausting mode. It occurs like- 
wise when one is ' out of breath,' from exercise ; and in the 
extreme debility of disease. Hence in these cases, there is 
often not more than one syllable heard in a single act of ex- 
piration. The breath on which the tremulous movement of 
laughter and crying is executed, is of this kind. I know the 
tremor makes a slight difference here : but if the reader will 
for a moment make the experiment, he will quickly feel that 
he laughs and cries himself, if I may so speak, to the bottom 
of his breath ; and that he can not without an inhaling pause, 
continue the tremulous function, for that prolonged period, 
through which he is able to carry common speech. 

This state of the respiratory organs which occurs in the 
exhausting breath, is produced by a high degree of certain feel- 
ings. Thus the operation of deep distress involuntarily cre- 
ates this kind of expiration, in the form of a sigh. Now when 
we are under the influence of bodily pain or mental suffering 
the words which come forth, are borne upon the exhausting 
breath; which allows but one, or at most two or three words 
to a single act of expiration : and thus by the intersections of 
repeated pauses, the Broken melody is produced. It will be 
the same, if an excess of feeling should blend the tremor of 
laughter or crying with discourse : for by the above described 
nature of these functions, the melody must be interrupted by 
the frequent necessity of inhaling. It may be asked — why 
the breath may not be rapidly recovered, as it is in the mo- 
mentary stops of discourse, which are sometimes scarcely per- 
ceptible. The reason is this: In the holding expiration of 



342 THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 

common speech, the respiratory function does not discharge 
the whole of the air from the lungs ; such a quantity only is 
gradually spent in the utterance of words, as may be restored 
by a quick act of inspiration. But in the process of speaking 
by the exhausting breath, there is an expulsion of nearly all 
the air which can be discharged by an extreme contraction of 
the chest-, and the subsequent repletion of the lungs requires a 
degree of expansion and a depth of draught, which occupy the 
time of the protracted pauses of the Broken melody. 

It is not necessary to speak of the phrases of intonation, which 
are used in the melody here considered. Every species may 
be employed ; though, from the many interruptions of the 
Gurrent course, the relationships of the phrases are not so per- 
ceptible nor so important in practical effect, as in the more con- 
nected sequences of a common melody. 

I have thus endeavoured to open the way for a future de- 
scription of the various elements of passionate utterance, and a 
systematic arrangement of them. I have regarded them in an 
insulated light, though not one is ever heard alone ; and in 
some instances many are combined in a single act of expres- 
sion. Indeed, if after this elementary representation, the 
practical uses of the voice be considered, it will be found that 
these elements are employed under all modes of union which 
do not imply a contradiction. Thus a feeble and a forcible sound 
can not exist in the same impulse of utterance; but either of 
these conditions may be conjoined with any of the affections of 
pitch or quality or time. No one interval of pitch can, during 
the same syllabic impulse, be any other interval ; but any 
movement of pitch, may as occasions require, be made simulta- 
neous in execution with any quality or time or stress. So in 
the wave, the intervals of pitch may be consecutive in all pos- 
sible ways ; and these ways whether in interval or arrange- 
ment, may be conjoined with all the accidents of the voice, not 
at variance with their definition. 

It is then by the use of the few elements which have been 
enumerated, that the apparently infinite effects of speech are 
produced .But the preceding analysis of their vocal functions, 
and the reduction of their nomenclature to the terms of the above 
named elements, must at once seem to put the inquirer in pos- 
session of the means for surveying the whole extent of this 



THE VOCAL SIGNS OF THE PASSIONS. 343 

supposed infinity ; and by causing him to think he sees the 
very number of the possible combinations, to change his vulgar 
wonder over obscurity, into an intelligent admiration at the 
comprehensive but still measurable constructive-powers of a 
few associable constituents. 

The reader may now see why I have limited the range of 
this work to the consideration of elements, in their separate 
state ; or have only regarded a few of their combinations. To 
give a full detail of every possible group of the elements of 
vocal expression, would be beyond my design in setting forth 
the broad Philosophy of this subject. Nor indeed would it be 
necessary in a practical point of view ; for if the practice is 
analytical over the speech of another, the duty in this case is, 
to resolve the combination into its parts. And if, on the other 
hand, one should be desirous of forming combinations to ex- 
press certain states of mind, he can never be at a loss, after a 
proper description of the power of all the individual functions, 
to join those which are necessary for the full expression of his 
emotion or thought. 

From a review of the elements, and a reference to the vast 
variety of mental affections to be represented in speech, we 
must be struck with the disproportion between their respective 
numbers. Some of the passions, are expressed by the same 
mode of intonation : but there are other conditions of mind, 
which as far as I know, have no particular symbols among the 
elements. These must be described by an arbitrary language. 
Thus a person may on a mere tonic element which in itself 
conveys no idea, represent his grief or pain, by simply carry- 
ing that element through the interval of a semitone : or he may 
mark an inquiry by its movement through the concrete fifth : 
or his anger by its abrupt explosion. But there is no element 
by which he can inform us of his vanity, his fortitude, his re- 
morse or his generosity : these must be shown in action, or, be 
described by words. There are indeed resources enough in 
the combinations of the elements for these purposes, but the 
associations have not been made in the instinctive ordinations 
of expression. 



344 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 



SECTION XLVIII. 



Of the Mode of Instruction in Elocution. 



I have thus far set before the eye of philosophy a copy of 
the designs of nature, in the construction of human speech. It 
is necessary, if 1 may still carry on the figure, to furnish at 
the same time a ' working plan,' to him who may wish to build 
up for himself a fame in Elocution. 

If the reader is one of those who from disappointment in 
higher hopes, have at last, resolved to receive their station in 
life, through the suffrages of ignorance, and who in their ac- 
complishments are careless of rising above the discernment of 
their constituents, let him pass by this section. A little will 
serve his purposes ; and the instinct of his ambition, without 
the wise designs of human assiduity, will enable him to be 
easily the file leader of his herd. But if he believes in that 
fine induction of the Greeks, that 'good things are difficult;' 
if he sees the successful pretender, still restless and dissatisfied-,... 
in having made captives only of the ignorant ; if he desires to 
work for high and hard masters, and to take his ultimate re- 
pose by the side of their ever-during approbation, he may re- 
ceive from the following pages, some assistance towards the 
execution of a design to acquire the art of reading well. 

Can Elocution be taught ? This question has heretofore been 
asked through ignorance. It shall hereafter be asked only 
through folly. 

The sceptics on the subject of the practicability of teaching 
elocution, appear under three classes. The one is a simple sort, 
who knowing that the ways of the voice have never been 
traced, believe they never can be reduced to assignable»condi- 
tions. This opinion is grounded on the idea that the expressive 
effects of speech consist in an occult something which can not 
be discovered, but which is neither high nor low, loud nor 
soft ; in short is not any of the known accidents of sound. 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 345 

They who thus confuse the plain revelation of nature, seem to 
have just such an idea of vocal expression as school-girls 

have of the expression of the countenance, That it is not a 

palpable effect of the physical form of the face in its state of 
rest, and in its various motions, but a kind of immaterialism, 
which darts from the eye, and breathes from the lips : a < soul,' 
as it were in the face, which is yet ' neither shape nor feature.' 

The scepticism of the second class savors of something 
rather worse than simpleness. It promulgates the idea, that 
accomplishments in elocution are the result of certain inde- 
scribable powers of genius, and that the happy possessor 
of them is the production of one of nature's rare ' moments of 
enthusiasm.' Such sleight of tongue, to hide the plain agency 
of natural causes, is not only heard from those who are vain of 
common-place endowments, but is not disdained by some who 
possess attributes sufficient to set them far above all stale- 
grown tricks for reputation. He who has great powers in an 
art, knows well that he is distinguished from the thousands 
that surround him, by his industry, and his singleness in pur- 
pose and zeal : nor does he withhold instruction, in the fear 
of creating rivals, since he persuades himself that, if it is ne- 
cessary afterwards, he can always excel them. 

Those who constitute the third class are too intelligent to 
believe in this mystical doctrine of the inspiration of genius ; 
yet they hold that the art of reading well can be taught only 
by imitation. It is true, elocution has furnished instances of 
great ends being attained, without a knowledge of all the 
nicety of means ; and this may prove that it is less important 
and practical to direct another what he should do, than to give 
him an example of it. But the analysis which has been made, 
will now enable a teacher to give the memorable description of 
what is to be done ; and thereby to furnish the pupil with 
comprehensive purposes, as well as with the transient benefit 
of example. 

I have thus named the objections, sometimes made against an 
attempt to teach the uses of the voice, by systematic and com- 
municable principles. I shall not confer importance on them by 
refutation. In so doing 1 should only record some vain opin- 
ions of this age, which a future one need not know. At the 
present time I am quite unconcerned whether the offered ana- 
2 T 



346 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

lysis in this essay, and the scheme of instruction founded upon 
it, is to the old school of mystagogues and imitators, either < a 
stumbling-block or foolishness.' 

The preceding history will furnish most of the materials for 
erecting elocution into a science : and we must wait for the 
nice observations, comparisons, and conclusions of taste, to 
frame a body of rules for directing the best use of these mate- 
rials. Our analysis will not only afford the means of reducing 
the vague and arbitrary fashion of the voice to that standard of 
general principles, to which the fine arts may be brought : but 
it opens a new field on the subject of instruction. All arts 
which have been separated into their elements, have been re- 
composed into grammatical schemes for teaching by those 
elements : and it now becomes us to try what may be the ad- 
vantages, as to economy of time, and precision of execution, 
from following an elementary plan, in communicating a know- 
ledge of the nature and uses of human speech. 

Language was long ago analyzed into its alphabetic elements. 
Wherever this analysis is known, the art of teaching language, 
has, with the best success, been conducted upon the rudi mental 
method. Now, I know that if other accidents of speech, be- 
sides that of pronunciation, be taught by this manner of resolu- 
tion, the benefits of instruction will be in no less a degree 
attained, than by the mode of alphabetic analysis. If we teach 
a child in this way, in order to make him acquainted with the 
simple sounds of speech, and to give him a facility in the pro- 
nunciation of them ; what reason can be suggested why a clear 
perception of the varieties of stress, of time and of intonation, 
and a facility in managing them in current utterance should 
not be acquired in a similar elementary manner. 

The art of reading consists in having all the vocal elements 
under complete command, that they may be properly applied, 
for the vivid and elegant delineation of the sense and senti- 
ment of discourse. 1 pass by in this section, all notice of the 
elements as expressive of feelings or thoughts : and shall here 
consider only the means of furnishing the material of speech 
whenever the mind may require its use. 

If I were a teacher of elocution, I would form into a di- 
dactic system, the mode of practice by which the analysis con- 
tained in this work was accomplished ; and would assign to 
my pupil a task under the following heads. 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 347 

Of Practice on the Alphabetic Elements. Notwith- 
standing we are all taught the alphabet, we are not taught the 
true elements of speech : I would therefore require the pupil 
to exercise his voice on the real constituents, as they are 
sounded in a strict analysis of words. In the present school- 
system of the alphabet, it is true, all the vowels and one of 
the consonants are named as they are pronounced in combi- 
nation : but in that system many vowels have no peculiar 
symbol, and nearly all the consonants are heard as syllables, 
not as elements. If ' V and ' ¥ and ' /,' (and what I say now 
will apply to all the consonants,) be sounded as respectively 
heard in ' b-ay' and <&-ing' and ' /-ove,' that is, if we pause 
after these several initial elements have escaped the organs, we 
shall have the real elemental constituents of the syllables, in- 
stead of the compounds ' be,' l . kay' and ' ell' as they are uni- 
versally taught. 

1 would have the first lesson then to consist of the thirty-five 
elements, in order to ensure a true and easy execution of their 
unmixed sounds. It may be asked, whether a careful pro- 
nunciation of words in which these elements, though com- 
bined, must still be heard, would not give the required ex- 
actness and facility ? I believe it would not. When the 
elements are pronounced singly, they may receive a concen- 
tration of the organic effort, which gives them a clearness of 
sound and a definite outline, if I may so speak, at their ex- 
tremes, that makes a fine preparative for a distinct and forci- 
ble pronunciation in the compounds of speech. I venture to 
assert that no one who has neglected this mode of alphabetic 
practice, is able to give the guttural murmur of ' b,' ' d' and 
« g,' with that force and fulness, and duration, which are 
required on occasions that call for the higher graces and more 
striking expressions of elocution. 

But there is one element, which may, by separate utterance, 
be improved to a degree that can not be reached in the con- 
joined mode of pronunciation. I mean the sound of 'r.' 

The element < r' is a modification of the vocality of the sub- 
tonics ; and denotes two different articulations. One is made 
by a simple contact of the tongue with the roof of the mouth ; 
the other by its quick percussion against that part. The ( r* 
produced by the first organic combination, differs very little 



348 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

from the short tonic ' e-rr,' and is called the smooth * r? That 
formed by the percussion may be called the Vibrant ' r.' It 
has a distinctness of character and a body of sound, not pos- 
sessed by the other : and if my metaphor could be appreciated, 
I would say, the parts concerned in its formation, seem to 
have a firmer grasp of the breath. But it must be borne in 
mind that this Vibrant ' rJ even with its vigor and satisfactory 
fulness, will be agreeable only when it consists of one, or at 
most, two or three strokes and rebounds of the tongue : for if 
it should become a continued vibration, the effect will be of- 
fensively harsh, except it be expressly designed for a rough or 
energetic utterance. The perfect ' r' for the purposes of dis- 
tinct and impressive speech should consist of a single slap and 
retraction. It can be made in this manner : but it must be 
done through long trial, on the solitary element. 

Besides the difficulty of acquiring strength and accuracy in 
this separate pronunciation, there are combinations of the l r > 
with other elements, which can be effected in an agreeable 
manner, only after long practice. It is obvious, that the sub- 
tonics and atonies, which employ the tongue, will not readily 
unite with an element, requiring a quick remove of that mem- 
ber to another part of the mouth, even when the <r' is pro- 
duced by the simple pressure of the tongue. But the difficulty 
of transition is much increased, by the velocity necessary for 
the Vibrant *'¥? Let us, for instance, suppose a syllabic step 
from ' e?' to ' r,' as in the word ' dread ' Now, as the for- 
mation of ' c?,' requires the tip of the tongue to be applied to 
the upper fore-teeth, if the ' /•' is taken smoothly, the union 
of these contiguous elements may be made without much ef- 
fort, by retracting the tongue to its place for forming the ( r.' 
But if we wish to roughen the word by the Vibrant 'r,' the 
tongue is to be removed from the teeth, and to be brought 
down towards its bed, in a kind of drawing-off, for the pur- 
pose of making a sudden impulse against the roof of the mouth: 
and it requires both exertion and skill, to accomplish these suc- 
cessive movements with the quick coalescence which syllabic 
utterance requires. 

There is also considerable difficulty in the attempt to unite 
the Vibrant ' r' with some of the tonics ; and the cause is ana- 
logous to that which is operative in the above described com- 
bination. 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 349 

When the Vibrant 'r' is set before the tonics, the coales- 
cence is easy, but it is not so when it follows certain of these 
elements. If the tonics are of long quantity, there is only the 
slightest difficulty ; as in ' glare,' ' war,' ' far,' ' peer,' ' mire,' 
'our,' 'your.' But if the natural short-tonics 'err,' 'e-nd,' 
and 'z-n,' and most of the other tonics, when pronounced short, 
precede the Vibrant ' r,' there is not only a considerable hiatus, 
but a change of the elemental sound takes place ; and that pe- 
culiar aspirated utterance is heard, which forms one of the 
characteristics of speech in the natives of Ireland. This will 
be perceived upon pronouncing the following words with 
the Vibrant ( r' : interpreter, world, irritate, intercourse. 
The cause of the difficulty, and of the change of sound, will 
appear in the following explanation. 

The tonic sounds, though in greater part laryngeal, are, in 
some cases, modified by the agency of the tongue and lips. If 
their formation be observed with respect to the first of these 
organs, it will be seen that they employ it in varying positions, 
from the deepest depression in its bed, till nearly in contact 
with the roof of the mouth. The place of the tongue in the ut- 
terance of ' «-we' is the lowest : and in ' ee-1,' ' e-nd' and ' i-n,' 
it is the highest. Now? if the tongue be depressed whilst the 
effort in these three last instances is going on, it will be per- 
ceived that the short tonic sound is corrupted into a semi-aspi- 
ration. When ' a-we' precedes the Vibrant ' r,' the tongue is 
in a proper position to make its percussive impulse: and the 
combination is both easy of execution and agreeable in effect. 

If a short tonic element is followed by ' r,' it is necessary to 
depress the tongue, to give it some swinging-way, if I may so 
speak, for the purpose of gaining the velocity of percussion : 
and the aim to effect this in the quickest time, produces the 
strained effort of pronunciation. But with every endeavour, 
there is still a perceptible interval between the change from 
the lowest position of the tongue to that of its contact with the 
roof of the mouth. And as there is no call to arrest the vo- 
cality during this time of the change, the depression of the 
tongue, for effecting the percussion of the 'r,' converts that 
vocality into a partial aspiration, agreeably to what was said 
above. This mingling of aspiration with the sound of the short 
tonic, and of the ' r,' produces the disagreeable effect perceived 
in the utterance of these conjoined elements. 



350 THE MODE OP INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

The difficulty of executing the 'r,' under the circumstances 
above-mentioned, will, 1 fear, be insurmountable to those who 
are not persuaded, that the perfection of all their accomplish- 
ments must at last be measured by their ingenuity in the con- 
trivances of trial, and the enterprises of their unwearied prac- 
tice. Those who know that fruitful ambition is the growth of 
wise docility of mind, and heartfelt resolution, have only to 
learn that it is within the capabilities of time and exertion. 
How long it may take to overcome the difficulties here alluded 
to, must depend on natural facility of organ : nor need it be 
told to those who deserve instruction, and will have success. 
To such spirits, it is enough that it may be done. 

An exact pronunciation of the elements according to the 
standard of the day, is not a matter of importance merely as 
regards formality of fashion, or even beauty of effect ; it has 
a claim of greater dignity. 

When ideas are to be communicated with precision and 
strength, it should be by well-known words. They should 
not be peculiar or striking by length, nor by hiatus of utter- 
ance. There should be no remarkable contrast between them; 
no attractive similarity in their sound ; nor indeed any thing 
in the language which might allure attention from the idea 
conveyed by it. A writer who frequently employs uncom- 
mon words, never has vividness or strength of style. To en- 
sure the utmost perfection of these qualities, sounds should 
slip into the mind, if I may say it, without the notice of the 
ear. Now what is here said on the distractions produced by 
the novelty of words, applies equally to the pronunciation of 
the alphabetic elements ; for the least deviation from the as- 
sumed standard converts the listener into the critic : and I am 
surely speaking within bounds when I say, that for every mis- 
called element in discourse, ten succeeding words are lost to 
the greater part of an audience. 

1 have therefore recommended a long continued practice on 
the separate elements, with a view to acquire that command 
which will not only contribute to the elegance of speech, but 
at the same time may help to remove all obscurity from the 
oral picture of sense and passion. 

Of Practice on the Time of Elements. I have said 
enough in former pages on the necessity of a full command 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 351 

over the time of utterance, in order to effect the high purposes 
of elocution. 

When the true pronunciation of the elements is acquired, 
the pupil should not, according to the usage of the primer, 
pass at once to their combinations. They are employed in 
speech under different degrees of duration : and an exercise of 
the voice, through all the modes of quantity, upon individual 
elements, is on this subject, equally with that of the last head, 
productive of a skilful management, which can not be so well 
or so easily effected, by practice on the common current of 
discourse. Let the pupil then consider the alphabetic ele- 
ments as a kind of gamut, on which he is to learn not only 
the names of the notes,, but all their varieties of time. The 
power of giving well measured length to syllables is so rare 
among speakers, and so difficult to acquire, that I thought it 
proper to draw attention to this elementary mode for facili- 
tating the attainment of it. 

The prolongation of the atonies is of little consequence. 
But let the student reiterate his practice on the tonics and sub- 
tonics, until he finds himself possessed of such a command over 
them, that he may, at will, give any required quantity to their 
syllabic combinations. 

It may be particularly remarked that the elements, ' b,' ' d' 
and l g, y admit of a slight degree of quantity, through the pro- 
longation of their guttural murmur : but a strenuous practice 
is necessary to render it applicable to the purposes of oratori- 
cal time. 

When e r,' is to be prolonged, and the rapid iteration would 
be inappropriate, the smooth, and feebly-formed element is to 
be employed ; since the perfect percussive l r,' made by a sin- 
gle stroke and rebound of the tongue, is necessarily short. 

The element 's, } when alone and prolonged, is a sign of 
contempt. In syllabic combination it is offensive when much 
extended in quantity. If made in its shortest time it does its 
part as an element, and loses much of the character of the hiss. 
Let the pupil therefore practise the shortest quantity on this 
element, by abruptly terminating the breath, or by separating 
the teeth at the moment its sound is heard ; for this at once 
cuts it short. 

Of Practice on the Vanishing Movement. The con- 



352 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION EST ELOCUTION. 

sideration of this point should have been united with the last. 
For if an attempt to prolong the elements be made without 
reference to the equable concrete of speech, it will be very 
apt to run into the note of song. The difference between these 
two modes of intonation is readily perceptible to a musical 
and attentive ear, even when made upon a single tonic, by a 
comparison of their respective effects with the well known 
impressions of current speech and of song. Let each indi- 
vidual act of intonation be assumed as the beginning of a se- 
ries : if it be the equable concrete, it will not seem to be the 
opening of a song. The pupil then without confusing his ear 
by other particulars, should exercise himself in the natural 
radical and vanish, on all the extendible elements. An un- 
erring power of execution in this function, however long the 
quantity may be, will always ensure to speech, an entire ex- 
emption from the characteristic of song. 

In this elementary intonation of the equable concrete, par- 
ticular attention should be paid to the structure of the vanish. 
The pupil must therefore endeavour to give it that delicate 
expiration which may render its limit almost imperceptible. 
We often lean the ear in delight, if 1 may say so, over this 
smooth knitting of sound with silence, by singers : and the 
master in elocution shall hereafter know, that one of those 
graces of speech which he could never name, and thought < be- 
yond the reach of art,' consists in that attenuation and close of 
the syllabic impulse which are here recommended as a lesson 
for a school boy. 

Of Practice on Force. It is scarcely necessarjr to say how 
loudness or strength of voice is to be acquired. It is not es- 
sential in discipline that the elements should be uttered sepa- 
rately with regard to force : since after the other accidents are 
brought under command, the exercise on loudness may be ef- 
fected during the current of discourse. Still I believe the 
ends of instruction would be somewhat easier attained by the 
elementary process in this particular. Few persons are aware 
of the influence that loud speaking or vociferation has on the 
quality of the voice. I have before said that it is one of the 
artificial modes of producing the orotund. It takes the voice 
from its meagre mincing about the lips, and transfers it, at 
least in semblance, to the back of the mouth or to the throat. 



THE MODE OF LV3TRUCTIOX ES" ELOCUTION. 353 

It imparts a grave fulness to its quality: and by creating a 
strength of organ, gives confidence to the speaker in his more 
forcible efforts, and an unhesitating facility in all the moderate 
exertions of speech. 

Of Practice on Stress. Though the mode of elementary 
exercise on loudness may not be required, I must urge its im- 
portance, upon the subject of stress. There is a nicety of analy- 
sis in this matter, which will be definitely recognized, and 
consequently can become familiar, only through the deliberate 
practice and unembarrassed observation, afforded by trials on 
the separate elements. 

It was said formerly that the radical stress is made with 
emphatic strength only on the tonics ; still an attempt to per- 
form this function on the subtonics is not to be entirely ne- 
glected. The full power of the radical abruptness is obtained 
by opening the elements into utterance by a sort of coughing 
explosion. 

For the median stress or swell, no particular direction is re- 
quired. It is generally employed on the wave, and is there- 
fore connected with the practice on pitch. 

The vanishing stress may be practised by assuming in 
speech something like the effort of hiccough, for the wider in- 
tervals of the scale; and something like sobbing, for the minor 
third and the semitone. 

It is not necessary to speak of exercising the voice on the 
compound stress, the thorough stress, and the loud concrete. 
These are, indeed, philosophic points, but they are of little 
importance in a practical view. 

Of Practice on Pitch. The scale of pitch which is used 
in this essay, is that long ago formed and named in music. It 
was described in the first section. The order of its proximate 
intervals and the span of its wider transitions, must be learned 
from an instrument or the voice. With a few davs attention 
to the effect of the various rising and falling movements on the 
keys of a piano-forte, a pupil who has the least musical ear, 
will be able to execute the same successioas in his voice, and 
thus to recognize the concrete pitch and the change of the 
radical, when they are made on elemental or syllabic utter- 
ance. 

W hen the pupil has passed this preliminarv step, I would 
2U 



354 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

have every interval of pitch, both in an upward and down- 
ward direction, and in concrete movement and radical change,, 
practised on every tonic and subtonic element. 

The semitone is easily taught, and the scholar may always 
hit its interval by affecting a plaintive utterance. Let him 
devote some time to putting it through all the elements, and 
he will thereby render it readily obedient to the sentiments 
which require its expression. 

I must negatively describe the effect of the simple and un- 
colored interval of the second, by saying, — it is not the semi- 
tone, with the plaintive character of which we may now sup- 
pose ourselves well acquainted ; — nor is it the third or fifth or 
octave, also well known as the sign of interrogation ; — nor the 
wide downward movement of surprise. If then in syllabic 
utterance, we produce none of these effects, we may be sure 
we have gone through the simple second of the plain diatonic 
melody. Let the pupil practise this interval on all the tonics 
and subtonics, and he will be able always to command the con- 
stituent of this plain melody ; nor will he be in danger of in- 
fecting its appropriate character by the whine of the semitone, 
the sharp inquisitiveness of the fifth and octave, or with the 
more offensive affectation of the higher forms of the wave. 

That the pupil may ascertain when he is executing a down- 
ward interval, let him familiarize his ear to the effect of the 
last constituent of a cadence, consisting of a gradual descent 
upon three distinct syllables. This will give him the charac- 
ter of the falling second : and if he studiously repeats the ele- 
ments with a reference to this movement, he can create nearly 
as clear a perception of the peculiarity of the interval, as he 
has of the sounds of the elements themselves. When he has 
prepared himself with this downward vanish, he may contrast 
it with the rising second, and he will thus soon become ac- 
quainted with the audible character of each- Upon knowing 
the second, the wider falling intervals may be easily recognized, 
by continuing the downward progress, till the intonation as- 
sumes the expression of command : the extent of the down- 
ward movement through a third or fifth or octave, being pro- 
portional to the less or greater degree of that sentiment. When 
these intervals have become familiar, let them be compared 
with the higher intervals in a rising direction. The difference 






THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 355 

between the intonation of a question and a command, will thus 
be made manifest. 

I would have the pupil, in going through the elements, play 
upon them in the movement of the wave. His practice here 
must be governed by his perceptions of the simple intervals 
which variously compose its different kinds. The wave of 
the second is of great importance, in the grave and dignified 
cast of the diatonic melody. I can not by any graphic sign or 
by direct description bring this function before the reader's 
attention : but in giving prolonged quantity to indefinite syl- 
lables, if the effect of the upward or downward wider inter- 
vals is not recognized, — nor the peculiar note of song; — nor the 
marked impression of the higher waves, — nor that of the plain- 
tive semitone, it may be concluded that the voice is moving in 
the wave of the second. 

Of Practice on Melody. One of the most difficult things 
regarding intonation, is the perception of the radical changes 
of the second in the progression of the current melody. If the 
pupil has a musical ear, he may easily acquire the habit of va- 
rying the several phrases in the manner formerly mentioned. 
Should he not have a nice discernment of sound, nor ingenuity 
in experiment, he must learn the diatonic progression from 
the voice of a master. 

The flow of melody can not be made on single elements, 
therefore the cultivation of this function must consist of exer- 
cise on connected syllables. The best method is to select a 
portion of discourse, to keep in mind the manner in which it 
should be naturally read, and yet to pronounce only the tonic 
element of each syllable. In this case, the ear not being em- 
barrassed by the subtonics, the difference between rise and 
fall in radical pitch, will be more apparent, and consequently 
the power of avoiding monotony, and of mingling all the 
phrases in an agreeable variety, more easily attained. 

Of Practice on the Cadence. The cadence is an import- 
ant part of the melody of speech. I shall, in the last section, 
notice the faults of speakers on this point. I here propose the 
form of elementary practice ; by which I mean that the pupil 
should bear in mind the different modes of intonation for ter- 
minating a sentence, and should exercise his voice on one, two, 
or three elements or syllables, considered as a close. 



356 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

If the application of the various species of the cadence be 
made with attention to their mode of construction and effect, 
the command over intonation in this particular, will be more 
completely acquired than when the aims of the pupil are con- 
fused by the ordinary system of imitative discipline. After 
the proper time has been devoted to the plan here recom- 
mended, a speaker will find himself provided with an ample 
fund for variety in his periods ; nor will he be likely to incur 
difficulty or awkwardness in the execution of them. 

Of Practice on the Tremor. The tremulous movement is 
one of those functions which should be practised on individual 
elements. With a knowledge of its construction, the scholar 
may correct himself in his task, and finally acquire that nicety 
which is essential to this expressive species of intonation. 

I know that the habit of laughing and crying does here fur- 
nish a wide field of practice ; but it is to be recollected that 
we laugh and cry, in a natural way for our own delight or re- 
lief. When we wish to furnish a picture of the tremulous 
function to an audience, it should be done, not only according 
to the sentimental dictates of nature, and within the pale of 
her truth, but also with that utmost degree of refinement in 
mode, and beauty in execution, which nature herself may never 
find purpose enough to accomplish ; though she may be ready 
to acknowledge their entire consistency with the spirit of her 
laws. 

Of Practice on Quality of Voice. The quality of voice, 
or its particular kind of sound, is capable of improvement ; 
and the practice in this case may be either on the elements, or 
on the current of discourse. But as the quality is most per- 
ceptible on the tonic sound of a syllable, perhaps the elementa- 
ry mode is the best plan for instruction. In whichever way 
the improving exercise is conducted, by it, a harsh quality 
may be somewhat softened : a husky voice may be brought 
nearer to pure vocality ; the piercing treble may be reduced 
in pitch, and the thin and meagre voice endowed with fulness 
and strength. 

There is, however, a deception on this subject, which de- 
serves to be noticed here. 

The qualities, or, as they are called, the ' tones,' of the voice, 
are said to be unlimited, and like the face, peculiar to each in- 



— — 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 357 

dividual. It is true, we do not often confound the several 
voices of persons whom we have heard, however numerous 
they may be : but the distinct recognition is here made upon 
the combination of the elements of force, pitch and time, 
rather than on the single point of quality. Thus one speaker 
is characterized by a constant use of the vanishing stress ; 
another by that of the radical ; one employs the interval of 
the third in the current melody, instead of the second. Some 
exhibit a general predominance of long, — others, of short 
quantities. In fine, by permutations of these features, an al- 
most infinite number of faces, if 1 may so speak, is given to 
the body of our speech. 

There are as many varieties of quality, as of any one of the 
accidents, and more than of some : the amount, however, falls 
far short of the combinations of the several accidents with each 
other. 

We may learn that the quality of a voice is not always its 
distinguishing mark, by attending to the prolonged note of 
song ; for it gives quality alone. In forming a judgment from 
this simple sound, exclusive of any peculiarity of stress or 
intonation, it is not easy to distinguish voices which would be 
widely different when heard through a single sentence in 
speech. From general observation only, I am disposed to be- 
lieve, that of the speaking voices of a thousand persons, nearly 
every one would be different, through the varied combination 
of their constituent elements. But if the same voices were se- 
verally designated by a single prolonged note of song, the diffe- 
rences might be reduced to a few classes. There would be 
harsh and soft voices heard among them, shrill and bass, clear 
and aspirated, dull and ringing : and to these a few other kinds 
might be added. Yet even these would, in some cases, be 
distinguishable only by a cultivated ear ; so that of the whole 
thousand, above supposed, I doubt if more than twenty points 
of recognition could be found, to constitute twenty kinds of 
quality. 

Of the orotund as a kind of voice, 1 spoke in a former section ; 
and described there, the mode of managing respiration, by 
which the fulness, power, and grave quality of this voice may 
be attained. It may, perhaps, assist the reader to discover 
that he is using the mode of utterance, which will promote 



358 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

the habit of transferring (as it seems only) the vocal effort to the 
chest, — by stating that the voice in this case, is apt to change 
into what I formerly called the basso-falsette; thus producing 
that ' double-lung' kind of speech which consists of mingled 
bass and treble. 

Of Practice in Rapidity of Speech. I have spoken of the 
solemn and deliberate character of discourse produced by slow 
time and long quantity. 

Extreme rapidity of speech may be employed as a means for 
obtaining a command over the uses of the voice. The diffi- 
culty, in this case, of making transitions from one position of 
the organs of articulation to another, requires an exertion which 
tends to increase the strength of those organs, and consequently 
enables them to perform all moderate progressions, without ef- 
fort or hesitation. I would recommend the utmost possible 
precipitancy of utterance ; taking care not to outrun the com- 
plete articulation of every element : and this makes it advisable 
to set the lesson on some discourse which has long been fixed 
in the memory, that there may be no embarrassment by the 
distracting effort of recollection. 

1 do not see much advantage in an elementary practice on 
the Emphatic vocule, Aspiration and Guttural emphasis. 
There is no difficulty in the execution of these functions that re- 
quires the exclusive attention which an elemental system of 
practice is meant to secure ; nor is there any thing to be effect- 
ed thereby, which may not be accomplished in the current of 
discourse. 

1 have thus, here and elsewhere enumerated the elements that 
constitute, as far as I know, the whole of speech. The only 
question upon the mode of instruction to be employed, is — 
whether we should aim to acquire a full power over these con- 
stituents, from their assemblage in current discourse, or from a 
separate and repeated practice on their individual forms. 

I need not propose arguments in favor of the analytic and 
elementary system to those, who, from the habit of acquiring 
the sciences, have formed for themselves economical and effect- 
ive plans of education. It is well for all others to take opinion 
in this matter, for a while at least, upon faith ; and to know 
that the only reason why elocutionists have never employed 
this mode, is because they have been ignorant of the subdivided 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 359 

functions of speech. There are too many examples in science, 
of the useful application of the result of analysis to the purpose 
of rudimental instruction, to suppose that the same means 
would not have been adopted in elocution, if they had been 
within reach of the master. 

Not to cite instances from those graver studies which pro- 
ceed by the alphabetic steps of elementary principles ; and with 
no intention to shame the ' genius' of an elocutionist and his 
grammar of imitation, let us go to the Ring and see the Science 
of muscular attack and defence, an over-match for the best ef- 
forts of strength and passion when undirected by gymnastic 
skill. The 'fancy' have really made no slang-like or degrad- 
ing application of the word. Science, as we usefully regard it, 
does no more than lay down, for art, those efficacious rules, 
which sagacity has drawn from observation and trial : and 
though it may not always ennoble what it touches, it takes from 
it the characteristic of brutality ; which is defined to be — the 
instinctive execution of what is not understood by the agent. 
Yes, even Boxing, low yet skilful as it is, may be called the 
Science of Brachial defence; and believe me reader, that the ele- 
mentary training in its positions and motions, carries not more 
superiority over the untaught arm, than the definite rules of 
elocution, founded on a knowledge of the elements of the voice, 
will have over the best spontaneous achievements of passion. 

I beg not to be misunderstood on this point. I do not say 
that instruction can create the essential powers of a speaker : 
but I know it can improve and direct them. ' Passion,' says a 
writer, 'knows more than art.' It may know more than art. 
But art sometimes knows better than passion. The display of 
the passions on memorized discourse, is not always addressed 
to those who are under the sympathetic influence of those pas- 
sions. When it is so, or when, at moments, the speaker can 
raise that sympathy, all is right that passion does. When, 
however, we are in that state of deliberation which contem- 
plates what passion should be, there arise such comparisons 
between what we feel ourselves, on the different occasions of 
excitement, and what we observe in others when under the in- 
fluence of it, that we are obliged to call up from taste, some 
ideal rule to settle an uncertainty of opinion. 

I look for no more, from a well devised practical system of 



360 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

elocution, than we are every day receiving from established arts. 
All men speak and reason, for these acts, as far as we know, 
are as natural as passion ; but the arts of grammar, rhetoric and 
logic, teach us to do these things in the best manner. In short, 
doing them in the best manner is signified by the name of these 
arts. 

The subject of elementary instruction, here in view, maybe 
regarded under another aspect. 

There is in man a will; with a system of muscles which the 
common calls of exercise render obedient to that will, and 
which thereby produces motion in every direction, not forbid- 
den by the nature of the joints. Now there is scarcely a boy 
of any physical activity or enterprise, who does not, on seeing 
a Circus-rider, desire to imitate him ; to catch and keep the 
centre of gravity through all the varieties of balance and mo- 
tion. Yet this will not prevent his fall, on a first trial, however 
natural the tie between his will and all his muscles may be. 
The truth is, that without long experience, he knows not what 
is to be done ; or if he knows he is unable to effect it. With 
some analogy to this case, there are many persons, not desti- 
tute of feeling or passion, who have a free command of the 
voice, on the common occasions of life, but who betray a fal- 
tering tongue if they attempt to imitate the varied power of 
the long-practised speaker. When the voice is prepared by 
elementary trial, the feeling which prompts the expression 
will find the pliant and strengthened organs ready to furnish a 
satisfactory and elegant accomplishment of its designs. 

The organs of speech are capable of a certain range of exer- 
tion : and to fulfil all the demands of a complete elocution, 
they should be carried to the full extent of that capability. 
Those persons who possess both active and delicate feelings, 
and who exercise themselves in recitation, are always approxi- 
mating towards this utmost play of power in the voice, by the 
ordinary mode of instruction ; and do in a course of years ef- 
fect nearly all that the organs are susceptible of. But the ele- 
mentary mode here proposed, being founded on an analysis of 
speech, at once points out to the pupil what is to be attained, 
and thus invites him to the accomplishment of every vocal 
possibility. 

It was not until long after the invention of the bow for the 



THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 361 

touch of stringed instruments, that its use was subjected to ac- 
curate observation. A few belonging to that class of mankind 
who find out, themselves, the best way to effect their object, 
may have exhibited rare instances of skill in its management. 
But as soon as science had made something like an analysis of 
their dexterity, the master was able to point out to the pupil 
the muscular sleight of elbow and wrist which its handling 
requires ; their combined and successive motions ; together 
with that full feeling of the will, as it were, present in the mus- 
cle, which ensures undeviating steadiness in every sweep, and 
gives the power of a sort of conscious spasm for the purpose 
of a momentary touch. When these points were ascertained, 
instruction began to adopt the economy of elementary rules ; 
and velocity, precision, smoothness and variety of execution, 
became common accomplishments in the art of Bowing. 

When an attempt is made to teach an art without com- 
mencing with its most simple elements, combinations of ele- 
ments pass with the pupil for the elements themselves, and 
holding them to be almost infinite, he abandons his task as 
hopeless. An education by the method we are here recom- 
mending reverses this disheartening duty. It reduces the 
seeming infinity to computable numbers ; and I anticipate, 
with no little confidence, that one of the first comments on the 
foregoing analysis, will refer to the unexpected simplicity of 
means which is there shown to be operative in the production 
of the unbounded permutations of speech. Nay, this essay 
itself will fare better than other similar efforts in science, if 
some of the perishing criticism of the da)' should not find good 
reason with itself, for overlooking the difficulty of tracing the 
mystery of speech to its palpable roots, by being told how few 
they are. 

When I speak of the best mode of instruction in elocution, 
I refer to that which produces the highest end and utmost fin- 
ish of utterance. Any kind of speech, which does not mis- 
take the price, will serve for buying and selling. But where 
the powers and beauties of the voice are made the subject of 
pleasure, it becomes necessary to employ the most comprehen- 
sive and the easiest means for its cultivation. It would be pos- 
sible even without regard to the alphabet, to teach a savage, 
by making him follow a master in reading current discourse. 
2V 



362 THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 

So speakers have been taught by a similar process of imitative 
instruction. But I know well, and others shall know here- 
after that the analysis of words into a graphic alphabet, and 
the rudimental mode of teaching instituted thereupon, do not 
give more facility, in the discriminations of the eye on a writ- 
ten page, than the mode here proposed will afford to the stu- 
dent of elocution, who wishes to excel in all the useful and 
elegant purposes of speech. 

Let the master and the scholar meet without books. Let 
the master exemplify the graceful spiring of the vanish ; the 
effect of the second and other intervals of pitch. Let him 
make the scholar sensible of the difference of these intervals 
by separate utterance. Let him show the peculiarities of a 
rising and of a falling movement ; in short, let his lessons con- 
sist of his alphabet of vocal functions throughout the whole of 
the elements. Let the scholar practice these things as a task 
when he retires ; and on returning to his master, let it not be 
to hear him read, and vainly try to imitate him, but to repeat 
his practised elements, and to hit at once any required mode of 
voice. When he is completely familiar with these rudiments, 
then let him read with his master. 

If the high accomplishments of elocution are an object of 
ambition, the system of instruction offered in this section, 
will furnish the easiest and shortest means for success. 

After all that has been said, the best contrived scheme will 
be of little avail, without the utmost zeal and perseverance on 
the part of the learner. It is an impressive saying by an ele- 
gant genius of the Augustan age, who drew his maxim from 
the Greek Tragedy, and illustrated it by his own life and fame, 
that ' nothing is given to mortals without indefatigable labour :* 
meaning thereby that — those works which, from their rare and 
surpassing merits are supposed to proceed from a peculiar en- 
dowment by Heaven, are, in reality, but the product of hard 
and unremitting industry. 

It is pitiable to witness the hopes and conceits of ambition, 
without the accompaniment of its requisite exertions. The 
art of reading well is one of those accomplishments which all 
wish to possess, many think they have already, and some set 
about to acquire. These, after a few lessons with an elocu- 
tionist, and no toil of their own, are disappointed at not becom- 






THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN ELOCUTION. 363 

ing themselves at once masters of the art, and abandon the 
study for the purpose of entering on some new subject of trial 
and failure. Such cases of infirmity are in part a result 
of the inconstancy of human nature ; but they chiefly arise 
from defects in the usual course of instruction. Go to some, 
may I say all of our colleges and universities, and ob- 
serve how the art of speaking, — is not taught there. See a boy 
of but fifteen years, sent upon a stage, pale and choking with 
apprehension, in an attempt to do that, without instruction, 
which he came purposely to learn ; and furnishing amusement 
to his class-mates, by a pardonable awkwardness, which should 
be punished, in the person of his pretending but neglectful 
preceptor, with little less than scourging. Then visit a Con- 
servatorio of music, — observe there the orderly tasks, the mas- 
terly discipline, the unwearied superintendence, and the inces- 
sant toil to produce accomplishment of voice ; and afterwards 
do not be surprised that the pulpit, the senate, the bar and the 
chair of medical professorship are filled with such abominable 
drawlers, mouthers, mumblers, clutterers, squeakers, chanters, 
and mongers in monotony : nor that the schools of singing are 
constantly sending abroad those great instances of vocal won- 
der, who sound along the high places of the world ; who are 
bidden to the halls of fashion and wealth ; who sometimes 
quell the pride of rank, by its momentary sensation of envy ; 
and who draw forth the intelligent curiosity, and produce the 
crowning delight and approbation of the Prince and the Sage. 



364 THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 

SECTION XLIX. 
Of the Rythmus of Speech. 

In the section on Time I alluded, in the course of argument, 
to the subject of Rythmus. I endeavoured then to show the 
circumstances under which stress and time, or as they are 
otherwise called, accent and quantity, produce by their alter- 
nations the agreeable impressions of verse. I now offer a 
somewhat more formal account of this matter, with the design 
to speak of the Rythmus of prose : and for the purpose of no- 
ticing, in as few words as possible, the ingenious system of 
Mr. Steele, on the subject of accentuation and pause : this be- 
ing one of the first results, in modern times, of an inquiry into 
the philosophy of spoken language. 

As speech consists of a succession of accented and unaccented 
syllables, Mr. Steele supposes all discourse to be separated into 
parts ; which being made in reference to accents, may be 
called Accentual sections. These he includes between vertical 
bars, as in the following notation : 

7 In the | second century | 7 of the | christian j era | 

7 the I empire of | Rome | 7 compre | hended the | fairest | 

part of the | earth | 7 and the | most 7 | civilized | portion of man | 
kind I 

The constructive principles of the accentual sections are 
these. The first syllable of each section is accented, that is, 
a bar is to be drawn before each accented syllable or emphatic 
monosyllabic-word. But it appears in the fourth section of 
the above example, that a bar is drawn before the particle ' of 
which is neither accented nor emphatic. In this case, and 
there are others like it in the example, the place of an accent- 
ed syllable is occupied by a symbol, denoting a pause equal to 
the time consumed by a syllable when present. Each section is 
supposed to contain a heavy and a light portion; the heavy being 






THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 365 

the accented syllable and the light the unaccented. If, in affix- 
ing the bar before a heavy syllable, there should be no follow- 
ing light one in the section, which happens when two accented 
or emphatic words immediately succeed each other, a pause 
must occupy its place ; as in the section consisting of ' most' 
in the above example. When the first part of the section is an 
indefinite quantity the use of the subsequent pause, may be 
superseded by prolonging the accented word to the required 
duration of the section, as in the word < Rome :' for it is as- 
sumed in this system, that all the accentual sections are of equal 
time, like the bars in music. If the number of syllables in- 
cluded between the bars is so many as to require an improper 
precipitancy of utterance, in order to make the time of the 
sections equal, it becomes necessary to throw in a bar before 
the light syllables of that precipitate group, and to set a symbol 
of rest in the place which would have held the heavy or ac- 
cented syllable, if the section had been entire. Thus in the 
example, we might say, I 'century of the' I in one section ; 
but when the sentence is read deliberately this section is too 
long. It is better ordered in the example, by a subdivision, 
and by putting a slight pause in that place which should be oc- 
cupied by an accented syllable. 

It will perhaps be asked here — what is the meaning of these 
divisions ? And what useful purposes do they serve in instruc- 
tion ? 

All the works on elocution before the time of Mr. Steele, 
recommended the accurate accentuation of words, and a strict 
attention to their separation, at the proper places for pausing. 
Mr. Sheridan indeed has given a notation for rhetorical pause 
and emphasis. But he has proposed no scheme, to draw the 
attention of the pupil to the subject of accent. That this sub- 
ject is of the utmost importance in the schools of elocution, will 
be admitted by those who have observed the manner in which 
children learn to read : for the close attention which their ig- 
norance requires, and the slowness of utterance, lead them to 
lay an equal stress upon every syllable or at least upon every 
word. This habit continues a long time after the eye has ac- 
quired a facility in following up discourse ; and in some cases 
infects pronunciation throughout subsequent life. The notation 
of Mr. Steele which has a symbol for each degree of stress, 



366 THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 

would certainly obviate this tendency, by furnishing the pupil 
with a guide to accentuation, in the absence of the master. I 
do not say that this object would not be attained, in a de- 
gree, by employing the common mark of stress on all accented 
syllables : But even this is never done, and if it were, it would 
not be as definite as the conspicuous division by bars ; nor 
would it include the indication of pause, together with other 
points enumerated in Mr. Steele's system. 

One of the objects of a scientific institute is to point out what 
is necessary in the art, even if it is not able to tell the exact 
mode of executing it : and I venture to assert that no person, 
who has looked into Mr. Steele's system of notation, will hesi- 
tate to acknowledge that it has set the subjects of accentuation 
and pause in an entirely new light before him. 

This notation will not indeed inform us what syllables are to 
be accented or emphatic, nor where the pauses are to be placed: 
but it will enable a master, who knows how to order all these 
things in speech, to furnish that which most men require for 
every thing they do — a copy. If a boy^is taught by this me- 
thod, he acquires the habit of attention to the subjects of ac- 
centuation and pause, which may be readily applied in ordi- 
nary discourse. 

I have here gladly embraced an opportunity to notice the 
labours of Mr. Steele, who was among the first to shriek out 
at the incubus of ancient prosody which has crouched so close 
on the bosom of his own and of every modern language. It was 
not my intention to set forth the whole of this system, nor to 
vouch for all its points. It has able advocates, and their works 
and lectures, both in this country and in Europe, render a de- 
sign of this sort unnecessary from me. 

Mr. Steele's work is quite original, but it is not systematic ; 
and his contradistinction of what he calls Poize, from the func- 
tions of time and stress, is altogether notional and cloud}'.* I 
have taken this short and perhaps unsatisfactory view of a part 
of his essay, merely as prefatory to the few following remarks 
on the subject of rythmus. 

*Mr. Steele first published his views, under the title cited in the introduc- 
tion, to this essay. A few years afterwards he gave a second edition of his 
work with the title of 'Prosodia Rationalis.' In this last there is very little addi- 
tion to the former print ; and that is not material to the system. 



MiKkftM^k^Maii 



THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 367 

The rythmus of language is — that perception which the ear 
has of accent, quantity and pause. Or in other words, — a cer- 
tain succession of syllables, having different degrees of stress 
or quantity, and this succession being divided into portions by 
pauses, constitutes one important cause of the agreeable impres- 
sion of the current speech. 

There are two modes of disposing the alternate force and re- 
mission of stress, in the construction of rythmus. One proceeds 
by a regular repetition of the same order of accents. This is 
called Verse. The other has no formal arrangement of its 
strong and weak, or long and short syllables. This the reader 
must know is Prose. The doctrine of the order of syllables 
in verse constitutes what is called prosody. This subject hav- 
ing been largely treated by authors, and being beyond the de- 
sign of this essay, I shall pass it by, with the remark, that — 
if English prosodists will listen to their own language, when 
they undertake to analyze it, and forget what the old gramma- 
rians have said upon the subject of time, which I am not pre- 
pared to admit that they themselves understood, their science 
will be more intelligible, and their rules of practice more useful 
to the student. 

Though the broad distinction between prose and verse con- 
sists in the more irregular sequence of accent or quantity in 
the former : still they seem to compromise their differences to 
a certain degree in their respective attempts at excellence. For 
the best poetic rythmus is that which admits occasional devia- 
tions from the current of accentuation : but these deviations do 
not continue long enough to destroy the general character of 
regularity ; the order returning before the ear has forgotten its 
previous impression. Prose on the other hand, is constantly 
showing the beginning of a regular rythmus : but before any 
series of accent or quantity has time to fill the ear with its 
method, the cross-purpose of a new succession destroys the 
order of incipient versification. 

The sources of variety, beauty and force in rythmus may be 
learned from the following general view of its construction. 

In ordinary pronunciation there may be several consecutive 
monosyllabic- words marked by the abrupt accent ; in which 
case there is necessarily a momentary pause between them : 
or there may be an accented syllable followed by one or more, 



368 THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 

but not exceeding six that are unaccented ; the average pro- 
portion being about one accented syllable to three unaccented. 
Hence it appears that the divisions which I have called accen- 
tual sections, and which are included between the vertical bars 
of Mr. Steele's notation, may consist of from one to five sylla- 
bles, and with considerable care and skill in the effort, some- 
times of six. Consequently if a rythmus were formed on the 
function of accent alone, a series of these differently constituted 
sections, would furnish the ground work for considerable va- 
riety. Thus in the above example, the sections consist of from 
one to four syllables ; for the third and fourth may be thrown 
together by omitting the bar and the pause, without at all ob- 
scuring the sense : and these being arranged in varied succes- 
sion, is one of the causes of the agreeable rythmus of this 
sentence. 

I hope the reader will not now deny that the ear is as 
strongly attracted by quantity as by stress. When therefore 
the former accident is employed in composition, the means 
of variety are multiplied. In the. following sentence I have 
marked in italics, those syllables which make an impression 
by their quantity, and thus add dignity to the varied accen- 
tual rythmus. 

The masters of the fairest and most wealthy climates of the globe, turned 
with contempt from gloomy hills, assailed by the wintery tempest, from lakes 
concealed in mist, and from cold and lonely heaths, over which the deer of the 
forest were chased by a troop of naked bar&arians. 

Besides the variety and impressiveness thus arising from 
stress and quantity, the rythmic effect is further diversified by 
including one or more accentual sections within the boundary 
of pauses. If I may be allowed the useful economy of the 
term, I would call the portions of discourse so formed, Pausal 
sections. They may consist of a single word : but the struc- 
ture of style, and ease of utterance, rarely admit of their con- 
taining more than twenty syllables. In the following exam- 
ple I have included the pausal sections between the upright 
bars, that the order and variety of the succession may be sur- 
veyed by the eye. I have marked merely the place of the 
pauses, in clear and impressive reading, without designating 
the several durations of those pauses. 



A—-,. - ■- - 






THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 369 

It is gone | that sensibility of principle | that chastity of honor | which 
felt a stain | like a wound | which inspired courage | whilst it mitigated 
ferocity | which ennobled whatever it touched | and under which | vice 
itself | lost | half its evil | by losing all its grossness. j 

The effect of the variety 1 am endeavouring to illustrate, 
may perhaps be made more conspicuous by contrasting it with 
the monotony of the antithetic style. The following sentence 
exhibits too much art in the construction of its pausal sections. 

When I took the first survey of my undertaking | I found our speech | 
copious | without order | and energetic | without rules | wherever I 
turned my view | there was perplexity | to be disentangled | and con- 
fusion to be regulated | choice was to be made | out of boundless variety | 
without any established principle of selection | adulterations were to be de- 
tected | without any settled test of purity | and modes of expression | to 
be rejected or received | without the suffrages of any writers of classical repu 
tation [ or acknowledged authority. | 

Such a measuring process, if used occasionally, may give a 
variety to discourse. But when made the characteristic fea- 
ture of composition, it indicates formality and stiffness of ear 
in the writer, — makes mere arithmetic of speech, and shuts out 
the strong lights of verbal delineation. There seems too to be 
a want of dignity in this kind of rythmus ; and those who af- 
fect it, scarcely perceive how near they approximate to the 
principle of the ludicrous : for when its features are slightly 
surcharged by caricature, it really becomes so. The princi- 
ple to which I allude, is that of a resemblance in sound, with 
a difference in sense. The similarity in the number of words, 
together with the like places of their accents, and the equal 
count of syllables, under which some writers set forth the 
strongest antithesis in ideas or sentiments, has not exactly the 
equivocation of a pun, but it always reminds me of it. 

The monotonous effect of a series of similar pausal sections 
is conspicuous in the following example from the poems of 
Ossian. It is however fair to remark, that as there are but 
two trisyllabic words in the extract, and not one polysyllable, 
the defect of variety in accent and remission must be taken 
into account, in the faults of its rythmus. 
2 W 



370 THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 

And is the son of Semo fallen? | mournful are Tura's walls. | Sorrow 
dwells at Dunscai. | Thy spouse is left alone in her youth. | The son of thy 
love is alone ! | He shall come to Bragela, | and ask why she weeps ? | He 
shall lift his eyes to the wall, | and see his father's sword. | Whose sword is 
that? | he will say. | The soul of his mother is sad. | Who is that, | like 
the hart of the desert, | in the murmur of his course ? | His eyes look wildly 
round | in search of his friend. I Conal | son of Colgar | where hast thou 
been | when the mighty fell 1 | Did the seas of Cogorma roll round thee 1 \ 
Was the wind of the south in thy sails 1 | The mighty have fallen in battle, | 
and thou wast not there. | Let none tell it in Selma, | nor in Morven's woody 
land. [ Fingal will be sad, | and the sons of the desert | mourn. | 

The pausal sections are here nearly all of equal length, and 
this cause, together with the frequent occurrence of the ca- 
dence, produces the wearisome character of the rythmus. 
Doctor Johnson once said that there were many men and 
women and children in Britain who could write such poems 
as those ascribed to Ossian. I have too many agreeable and 
grateful recollections of Scotland, to quarrel with her parti- 
ality, if she has any, on this point : but surely there is not a 
Roscius who can read them. We have indeed a vast fund for 
variety, in the elements of speech ; but I doubt their suffi- 
ciency to meet the demands of this composition, without trans- 
gressing the rules of a just and expressive intonation. In short 
the passage, like many others by better poets, can not be read 
with satisfaction, before the judgment of a discerning ear. 

Let us compare the preceding extract with the few first lines 
of Burke's episode on the Queen of France : which in elegance, 
variety and impressiveness of mere rythmus, and exclusive of 
some rhetorical ostentation, is not surpassed in the English 
language. 

That both the accentual and pausal sections may be graphi- 
cally made, I here present it under Mr. Steele's notation, as 
scored by Dr. Barber in his ' Exercises in Reading and Reci- 
tation :' omitting the symbols for the light and heavy accent. 

7 It is | now, | sixteen or | seventeen | years | 7 since I | saw the | 
queen of | France, 7 | then the | Dauphiness, | 7 at Ver | sailles: | 
7 7 I 7 and | surely | never | lighted on this | orb, | 7 which she | 
hardly | seemed to | touch, 7 | 7 a | more de | lightful | vision. | 7 7 | 

j 7 7 J 7 I I saw her | just a j bove the ho | rizon, | 7 7 I decorating 



THE RYTHMUS OF SPEECH. 371 

and | cheering | 7 the | elevated | sphere | 7 she | just be | gan to | 
move in: | 7 7 | glittering | 7 like the [ morning | star; | 7 7 1 full 
of I life, 7 I 7 and splendor, | 7 and | joy. | 

Oh ! I what a | revo | lution ! | 7 7 | 7 and | what a | heart 7 | 
must I j have, | 7 to con | template | 7 with ] out e ] motion, J 
that 7 I 7 ele I vation | 7 and | that 7 | fall. | 

The agreeable effect of this rythmus may be traced to the 
following causes. . 

First. The alphabetic elements are varied throughout : 
and except the repetition of sound in ' teen' and in the words 
< lighted' and < delightful,' ' cheering' and i sphere,' they do 
not press upon each other. 

Secondly. The words have from one to four syllables ; and 
these are finely alternated with each other. The accentual 
sections vary from one to five syllables in extent. 

Thirdly. The Pausal sections consist of from two syllables 
to ten : and their different lengths are intermingled in suc- 
cession. 

Fourthly. The effect is still further varied, by an occa- 
sional coincidence of the temporal accent with that of stress : 
and the dignity and force of the phraseology is heightened, by 
the occurrence of these long syllabic quantities at the place of 
the pauses : as in the words — years, Versailles, orb, hon'zon, 
sphere, move, star, joy and fall. 

Fifthly. The order of the rythmus has just enough regu- 
larity to produce the smooth effect of verse, without allowing 
the reader to anticipate any subsequent measure. 

The only exception I am disposed to make to the commen- 
dation of this extract, is produced by the consecutive accents 
at its termination. A spondaic cadence, if not designed for 
some extraordinary case of expression, or for variety in a se- 
ries of short sentences, is always, to me at least, disagreeable. 

The instances of rythmus which have been selected, are 
from prose-composition of elevated sentiment, and dignified 
style. But the plainest phraseology may be brought under 
the influence of the same rules of accent, quantity and pause. 
In the hands of a person of fine rythmic ear, even a letter of 
business, with its enumeration of particulars, may be made to 
flow with variety and smoothness. 



372 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

It is unnecessary to go into a further detail on the subject of 
rythmus. Much might be said in illustration of its powers and 
beauties, both as existing in the current of discourse and in the 
conspicuous place of the cadence. But we leave this to the 
Rhetoricians. 



SECTION L. 

Of the Faults of Readers. 

It is a prevailing opinion that persons who speak their own 
sentiments, in social intercourse, always speak properly : and 
that transferring this natural manner, as it is called, to formal 
reading and recitation, will ensure propriety of utterance. 

This idea has arisen from an ignorance of the functions which 
constitute the beauties and defects of speech. Without a 
knowledge of that analysis which must be the foundation of 
definite criticism, teachers have been obliged to refer to the 
spontaneous efforts of the voice as the only assistant means of 
instruction. It is true, the natural manner is more like the 
coveted excellence, than the first attempts of the pupil in 
reading ever are ; still the faults of ordinary conversation, are 
similar to those of reading, though they are less apparent. 
Perhaps the prevalent opinion proceeds from a belief that a 
just execution must necessarily follow a full understanding of 
the sense, and a true feeling of the sentiment of discourse, both 
of which are supposed to accompany colloquial speech. No 
one indeed can read correctly or with elegance, if he does not 
both understand and feel what he utters : but these are not ex- 
clusively the means of success. Sense and feeling must have 
a well tempered material in the voice to work upon. 

I admit that the self-prompted efforts of speech exhibit in 
some instances, those proprieties of emphasis and intonation, 
which are required for common narrative, argument and pas- 






'■■■ ■'■■—'- 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 373 

sion. But they will be very far from satisfying that discrimi- 
nation which will be strictly made when speech is offered to 
the ear of a refined and analytic taste. 

I admit likewise the almost unaccountable difference some- 
times observed between the capabilities of the colloquial voice, 
and the same voice when exerted in a formal attempt to read. 
Mr. Rice in his < Introduction to the art of Reading' relates 
the case of a person, who failed to repeat, with even tolerable 
propriety, the very words purposely written down, which he 
had been overheard to utter spontaneously, with all correctness 
in emphasis and expression. There seems, in such cases, to be 
no want of energy of mind or feeling, nor of flexibility in the 
voice. But when a discourse, embracing any sense and senti- 
ment, is read, even by its author, the occupation of the eye 
distracts attention from the meaning, or permits it to be fully 
recognized, only when shown upon a single point. For if that 
meaning is to be gathered from several words, the necessary 
forerunning and retrospection of the eye, render the proper 
management of the voice impracticable to those who have not, 
by long exercise in the art of reading, acquired an almost in- 
voluntary habit of associating the functions of speech with 
corresponding thoughts and feelings. 

But whatever may be the cause of the difficulties of reading 
well, faults and flagrant ones too do prevail in the art. Having 
therefore prepared the way for pointing out the nature of these 
faults, by describing the pure and elegant uses of the elements, 
I shall now endeavour to make the reader acquainted with the 
most common deviations from what we have presumed to adopt 
as the standard of excellence. 

He who undertakes to note justly the defects of an art, must 
carry with his censure a knowledge of its perfections. Faults 
are, every where, but relative to merits : and in elocution, 
they are the misplacing only of those elements which consti- 
tute its beauties : for some of the finest colors of the art are 
dipped from the very sources of its faults. He who declares 
his perception of blemishes, and yet can not at the same time 
define and enumerate graces, speaks without candor, or as the 
dupe of authority. Let us then try to perform these insepara- 
ble duties, by giving the outline of a just and elegant elocu- 



374 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 



tion, along with a particular enumeration of the vices of 



a nee. 



In treating of the phenomena of speech, 1 have always kept 
in view the best usages of taste. It will be little more than a 
recapitulation therefore to say — The faultless reader should 
possess for various occasions, all the qualities of voice from 
the full laryngeal bass of the orotund, to the lighter and lip- 
issuing sound of daily conversation. He should give distinctive- 
ly that pronunciation of single elements and their aggregates, 
both as to quantity and accent, which accords with the habitual 
perceptions of his audience. His plain melody should be dia- 
tonic, and varied in radical pitch, beyond discoverable mono- 
tony. His simple concrete should be equable in the rise, and 
diminution of its vanish. His tremor should be under full 
command for the occasions of grief and exultation. Obser- 
vation and judgment must have settled for him, the places and 
degrees of emphasis ; and a knowledge of its many forms, must 
have suggested the employment of them for variety and expres- 
sion. He should be able to protract his voice through every 
extent of quantity, and in every concrete interval of the rising 
and falling scale. He must have learned to put off from the 
dignified places of reading that canting or affected intonation 
which the planned courtesies and sacrificing servilities of life 
too often confirm into habit ; and to moderate in his interroga- 
tions that keenness which is bred up in the vulgar tongue, by 
the idle inquisitiveness of the world's impertinent curiosity. 
Finally he should have for this, as for every other Fine art, a 
delicate sense of the Sublime, the Graceful and the Ridiculous. 
A quick perception of the last, is absolutely necessary to guard 
the exalted works of taste against the accidental occurrence of 
its causes. 

It may be considered presumptuous in an) T one to pretend to 
fix a standard in the Art of speaking. Before the analytical 
development of speech this could not have been done. The 
discovery of the elements has now been accomplished ; suffi- 
ciently at least to advance some steps towards a system : and 
it seems no unfair anticipation of what must hereafter form the 
great point in the schools of elocution, to suggest such a use of 
these elements as may satisfy the cultivated ear. 

In marking out the basis for a system in this art, I looked to 






THE FAULTS OF READERS. # 375 

the purest instincts of nature in children and brute animals, for 
instances of passionate expression : and to choice examples in 
common life, and on the stage, for the best effects producible 
on the single and combined elements of speech. By selection 
from these sources, I have endeavoured to frame an Ideal Pat- 
tern of vocal beauty, precision, and force. 

But I was not slightly influenced by a perception of the fit- 
ness of the system which has been suggested. The term fitness 
may be explained by reference to a part of the foregoing ana- 
lysis. We have pointed out the difference, and future time 
shall acknowledge its importance, between the use of the se- 
cond in the plain diatonic melody, and the employment of the 
semitone, and higher intervals of the scale for peculiar pur- 
poses of expression. Now few speakers make the respective 
appropriations of these constituents : their current melody be- 
ing frequently intonated in the vanish of the third or fifth, or 
in the wider ranges of the wave. Such an application of these 
striking intervals annuls the final cause of nature, in the insti- 
tution of different intensities of pitch : confounds their intended 
distinctions : prevents the repose of the ear on the unimpas- 
sioned diatonic : and wears down that sharpness of the higher 
intervals, which is required for the occasional purposes of 
strong expression. This is what I mean by — drawing a system 
from the fitness of the thing. 

There is another consideration which must justify the esta- 
blishment of a system of some kind, if it should not plead for 
the one which has been offered. When the constituents of 
speech are described and known, the precision of their use must 
become an object of attention and criticism with an audience. 
If there be an admitted rule for their application, the representa- 
tion of thought and sentiment, will be more uniform, and ex- 
pression will therefore have more force. When we vary the 
sign of the same thought we take from the clearness of its 
meaning. If we constantly whine in the chromatic melody, or 
cry out emphatically in the wider intervals and in the wave, 
to no purpose of complaint or surprise, we shall in vain seek 
for sympathy when the wolf of feeling in reality seizes upon us. 

In looking for a standard of excellence in the art of elocution, 
we are always referred, as in the other fine arts, to Nature. But 
nature in this high pattern-capacity eludes the power of defini- 



376 THE FAULTS OP READERS. 

tion : and like Liberty with a patriot, — Orthodoxy with a 
sectarian, — Experience with a physician, — and Right with a 

moralist shows as many faces as there are tongues that 

take her name in vain. If nature is to be the canon she must 
be so by the single instances she produces. If her excellencies 
are scattered over the species, it is Art that must collect them 
into one individual. But where is the instance in nature 
worthy of imitation ? Is it to be found in the drawl of the 
spiritless ? In the snappish stress of the petulant ? In the eter- 
nal whine of the unhappy? The short quantity and precipitate 
time of the frivolous? In the continued diatonic of the sat- 
urnine ? In the even drift, whatever be its mode, of the passion- 
masking hypocrite ; or in the efforts of those morbid sensibili- 
ties which exaggerate every feeling ? Shall we find nature's 
paragon among the chatterings of the great market of life, that 
hurries through its melody by the straight line of the mono- 
tone ; that denies itself the repose of the cadence ; and that in 
bidding for its bargains of trade or notoriety, strains itself to 
the topmost note ? 

These are the individual instances of vocal deformity pre- 
sented by nature, which we daily suffer to pass without com- 
ment, because we are engaged at the moment with other 
thoughts and designs : and which we perceive only when the 
voice itself, as a matter of taste, is the exclusive object of atten- 
tion. 

But though nature affords no single instance of general ex- 
cellence in speech, she has diffused throughout the species all 
the elements of perfection : and it is the gathering in of her 
proprieties and beauties which constitutes the — Art of Elocu- 
tion. 

The Canon, so called, of statuary in Greece, which repre- 
sented no singly-existing form, was produced by Polycletus 
only after ages of gradual improvement. If individual nature 
might be taken as a model in the arts we would not at this late 
day be so often obliged to listen to bad readers ; nor to hear 
such clashing opinions, upon those who pass for the best. The 
productions of taste would have forerun their present needed 
cultivation ; and in reverse of the tedious growth of centuries, 
would like the garden of Eden, have been ripe at their plant- 
ing. 



_t: _ t — "^ 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 377 

Imagine yourself, says the master in Elocution, to be deliver- 
ing the sentiments of an author as if they were your own. 

I grant that such a rule may supply the want of better in- 
struction ; it may serve for common-place sentiments and 
thoughts, and may exempt a pupil from some of the greater 
faults of speech. On the other hand, suppose the art of read- 
ing to be exerted in representing the utmost power of descrip- 
tion and imaginative creation by a poet. How will the rule of 
substitution meet this case ? I have more than once seen, on 
the stage, the pitiable result of what was designed to be an imi- 
tation of nature. 

All the Fine Arts are essentially — Arts. The high execution 
of their works and the full prizing of them, are purely the re- 
sult of close observation, extensive comparison, and choice 
selection and combination of the scattered constituents of their 
respective subjects. 

Many of the faults of speakers, arise from their being taught 
by imitation alone. As long as there has been a history of the 
stage, so long, actors have been classed in the school of some 
predecessor or contemporary master. But inasmuch as there 
is always one who by chance or merit is the Leading Spirit of 
the lustrum, (for where there are no principles to direct in- 
struction, even five years is a long life for fashionable fame,) 
it generally happens that his faults may be recognized through- 
out a crowd of pupils and imitators. From the want of some 
definite corrective, the bad reading of a Pulpit sometimes in- 
fects a whole class of students ; who circumscribe the active 
benefits of their master's solemn instruction, by taking up his 
sinful elocution. 

It may be said — If we establish a system of principles, all 
readers must be of one school ; and this will be equivalent to 
imitation. There would be one school ; but the similarity 
would not be in its errors. Many actors who differ from each 
other in their faults, yet perform some short sentences with 
identical excellence, without exciting a remark upon that 
equality. It is only upon one of those violent outrages in ut- 
terance, that we hear in a moment the whispered name of a 
prototype, from twenty parts of a theatre. Grave copies in 
speech, like its gay mimickries are generally made on bad pro- 
2X 



378 THE FA.ULTSW READERS. 

nunciation, monotony, whining, false cadence or no cadence 
at all, and precipitate and unaccountable transitions. 

But, enough of argument on this subject. The art of elocution 
has never presented that abstract composition, which in analo- 
gy with the delineation of Form, may be called — the Ideal 
Beauty of Speech. The mere instinct of individual nature has 
been followed, and the best skill of the voice has perhaps 
fallen short of the yet reserved resources for oral accomplish- 
ment : whilst the common herd of pretenders afford an endless 
list of deformities. 

In noticing the faults of readers 1 do not wish to speak of the 
natural defects of the voice. It is difficult however, to draw a 
distinction on this subject. Too many of the wilful vices of 
life, through self-delusion, pass for misfortunes: and it can 
scarcely be made a question, whether the impudent display of 
even natural failings should not shut out the subject from in- 
dulgent commiseration. 

There are three points, of the first importance to a speaker : 
and if deficiencies therein are not to be called misfortunes, we 
may rank them as great and generic faults. I mean the defects 
of the Mind, of the Ear, and of Industry. 

Speech is intended to be the sign of every mode of thought 
and feeling. If therefore the mind of a scholar be not raised 
to that generality of condition which can assume all the pow- 
ers of expression, he will in vain aspire to great eminence in 
the art. If his mind is endued only with the diplomatic vir- 
tue of unruffled caution : if it is of that character which 

compliments its own dulness by calling energy violence; and 
which drawls out in reprobation at the vivid language of truth: 

if all its busy goings are but around the little circle of its 

own selfish schemes : if it has yet to hear, and never can be 
convinced that success in every art, is not more indebted to 

the plans of sagacity than to the perseverance of passion : 

if the mind, I repeat it, is of such a cast, its possessor may 
perhaps by his best assiduity, satisfy his own uncircumspect 
judgment and taste, but he can never reach the higher accom- 
plishments in elocution. 

In speaking of the mental requisites for good reading, I 
must not overlook our frequent neglect to discriminate be- 
tween Strong feelings and Delicate ones. The latter make the 






THE FAULTS OF READERS. 379 

finished actor ; and it is unfortunate for his art, that qualities 
which under proper cultivation insure success, are generally 
united with a modesty which retires from the places and occa- 
sions for displaying its merits : whilst the former in reaching 
but the coarse energy of the passions, are able to figure on the 
stage, only as the outrageous Herod, the brazen Beatrice, and 
the Buffoon. 

The mind, or nervous temperament, must furnish the design 
of elocution : the ear must watch over the lines and coloring 
of its expression. 

An ability to measure nicely the time, force and pitch of 
sounds, is indispensable to the higher excellencies of speech. 
It is impossible to say how much of the musical ear, properly 
so called, is the result of cultivation. There is however a 
wide difference even in the earliest aptitudes of this organ, 
and though the means of improvement derived from analysis 
will hereafter increase the proportional number of good read- 
ers, and produce something like an equality among them, still 
the possession of a musical ear must with other requisites, al- 
ways give an unequivocal superiority. 

I have spoken more than once in this essay, of Industry, 
the third general means for success ; the defect of which may 
be considered as an egregious fault in a speaker : and it cer- 
tainly is the most culpable. It is here placed on high ground, 
along with mental susceptibility and delicacy of ear, those es- 
sentials which have been designated by the indefinite term 
'genius.' In vain will the mind furnish its finest discrimi- 
nations, or the ear be ready with its measurements, if the 
tongue should not lend the perseverance of its practice. It 
was by a figure of speech which took a part for the whole of 
the senses, that the happy curse upon mankind, doomed the 
taste to be gratified by the sweat of the brow. The ear too, 
can receive its full measure of delight, only through the long 
labour of the voice. 

The faults of speakers are of almost infinite variety : but 
they consist of no unnamed elements. It seems as if nature 
had assumed in her adjusted system of signs, all the practica- 
ble functions of the voice. The corrupting art of the tongue 
in deforming her works, makes no addition to their constitu- 
ents, but performs its part in human error, by misplacing 



380 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

them. In pursuing the history of the faults of utterance, we 
may therefore follow something like the order which has more 
than once, in this essay, been given to the elements. 

The four general heads under which we considered the acci- 
dents of the voice, are Quality, Time, Force, and Pitch. 

Of Faults in Quality. This subject is so well known 
both in the art and in common criticism, that it is unnecessary 
to be particular with it. Harshness or roughness may be men- 
tioned as one of the disagreeable qualities of the voice. The 
nasal is still more offensive. Shrillness may rather be called 
a quality than a state of Pitch. It never has dignity. It 
seems like a mockery of the voice : and though it is heard re- 
motely, and draws attention, it does it with the attraction of a 
caricature. 1 think the huskiness of aspiration is more apt to 
be united with the orotund voice. It does not indeed diminish 
its gravity and sober grandeur, but it affects the fulness and 
clearness of its vocality. 

The falsette occasionally exists as the current quality of the 
voice. Whoever has this fault, should speak on business and 
for his wants, but no more. We sometimes find persons on 
the stage, and in the senate and pulpit, who show the deformi- 
ty of the falsette only at times, by the melody breaking from 
the natural voice on a single syllable. Every speaker has a 
falsette ; and the skilful can always guard against its improper 
use. When it occurs as a fault, it results either from the nar- 
row compass of the natural voice, or from a defect of ear in 
the speaker : for not having an accurate perception of his ap- 
proach to the falsette, he is unable to avoid the evil by a ready 
descent of intonation. 

The falsette is common in the voices of women. It has 
with them a plaintive character : and the melody at this high 
pitch is more apt to be monotonous. 

Of Faults in Time. I do not mean to speak here of read- 
ing too fast or too slow. There is nothing new to be said on 
this point. But we who speak English are said by the report 
of the compilers of Greek and of Latin grammars, to know 
nothing of quantity, and to have none in our language. That 
bad readers, and persons who will not learn their own tongue, 
may know nothing of its quantity, is readily granted ; yet 
that it is an essential accident of every language, and that the 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 381 

neglect of it is the source of many faults in ours, must be ad- 
mitted by those who know the nature of syllabic time, and the 
proper uses of the voice. 

There are two faults in quantity. Syllables may be too 
long or too short. When sentiments requiring short time, 
such as gaiety and anger, are otherwise expressed, it produces 
the vice of Drawling. This drawling may go through its ex- 
cessive quantity, either as a wave of the second, or an equal 
or unequal wave of higher intervals, or as the notes of Song. 

When deliberate or solemn discourse is hurried over in short 
syllabic quantity, the fault is no less apparent and offensive. 
This last named defect in reading, is by far the most common; 
and I have said more than once in this essay, because I wished 
to rouse the English ear to this subject, that the command over 
time in the pure equable-concrete of speech is found onty in 
speakers of fervent feeling and long practice. Such persons ac- 
quire the use of protracted quantity, because it is through long 
syllables, that the powerful expression of concrete intonation is 
effected. It is from ignorance of this fact, that some speakers, 
neglecting the variety and smoothness of the temporal emphasis, 
give prominence to important syllables only by some of the ham- 
mering modes of stress. 

Of Faults in Force. The misapplication of the degrees of 
loud and soft to the general current of discourse is sufficiently 
obvious. But in the various forms of local or syllabic stress, 
the faults of speech have been less known and consequently 
less avoided. 

Many speakers, from a difficulty in commanding the varia- 
tions of quantity, execute most of their emphasis in the form 
of force; yet even in the use of this apparently simple element, 
they are not free of faults. Some, after the manner of the 
Irish, employ the vanishing stress on all emphatic syllables. 
This has its meaning in expression, but it is misplaced except 
on the occasions formerly pointed out. A want of the sharp 
and abrupt character of the radical is not an uncommon fault. 
It is most commonly found in the dull and indolent : for 
nothing shows so clearly, the elastic temper of the voice and 
mind, as the ability to explode suddenly this initial stress. 

It is not my intention to go into a notice of the faults of em- 
phasis, in the common acceptation of the term. They all re- 



382 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

solve into a want of true apprehension in the reader. It 
should, however, be remarked, that through ignorance of the 
other constituents of speech, this well known subject of mere 
stress-laying emphasis, has acquired an importance in elocu- 
tion which has assumed the very name of the whole art. < How 
admirably she readsj said a thoughtless critic, of an actress, 
who, with perhaps a proper emphasis of Force, was neverthe- 
less deforming her part, by every fault of Time and Intonation. 
The critic was one of those who have neither knowledge nor 
docility ; I therefore made no comment. Emphasis being al- 
most the only branch of the art in which there is any thing 
like an approach towards a rule of instruction, this single 
function, by a figure of speech grounded on its importance, 
is taken in the narrow nomenclature of criticism for the 
sum of the art. Even Mr. Kemble, whose eulogy might 
have laid upon other merits, made his first stir of fame, if we 
have not been misinformed, by a new i reading' of some of 
the lines in Hamlet. 

We have awarded to emphasis its due degree of consequence. 
We have also given other elements theirs : and perhaps it 
may be hereafter admitted that much of the contention about 
certain unimportant points of stress-laying emphasis, and of 
pause, has arisen from critics on the drama finding very little 
else of the vast compass of speech, on which they were able 
to form for themselves a discriminative opinion, or on which 
they were willing to expose their ignorance to others. When 
hereafter we shall have more important matters to study and 
delight in, we may perhaps find that much of that trifling lore 
of italic notation, which now serves to keep up contention in 
a daily journal, will be quite overlooked, in the high court of 
philosophic criticism. * 

* Some one, of those who like to make business in an, art, rather than do it, 
has raised a question whether the following lines from Macbeth, should be read 
with a pause at ' banners.' or at ' walls :' 

Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls 

The cry is still, They come. 
To those whose elocution consists in such riddles, I propose the following from 
Goldsmith. 

A man he was to all the country dear, 
And passing rich with forty pounds a year. 
Now let them guess, or dispute, for the rest of their lives, whether the emphasis 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 3S3 

I pasa by the faults of pronunciation which depend on the 
misplacing of accents on syllables. Propriety in this matter 
is set forth in the dictionary, and the errors of speech may be 
measured by its rules. 

I deprecate noticing the faults of speakers, in the pronun- 
ciation of the alphabetic elements. It is better for criticism 
to be modest on this point, till it has the sense or independence 
to make our alphabet, and its uses, look more like the work of 
what is called — wise and transcendent humanity : till the par- 
donable variety of pronunciation, and the true spelling by the 
vulgar have satirized into reformation, that pen-craft which 
keeps up the troubles of orthography for no other purpose, as 
one can divine, than to boast of a very questionable merit as a 
criterion of education. 

Of Faults in Pitch. Speech has been peculiarly one of 
those subjects, in which we often pronounce upon the right 
and the wrong, without being able to say why they are so. 
We have resolved the obscurity in respect to the proprieties of 
intonation ; it will not be difficult on similar principles, to give 
the analysis of its faults. 

Of Faults in the Concrete Movement. I have more than 
once spoken of that peculiar characteristic of speech, which 
consists in the full opening, the gradual decrease, and the deli- 
cate termination of the concrete. Now, as this structure is 
destroyed by the use of the vanishing and the thorough stress, 
it follows that their misplaced application must be regarded as 
a fault. The vanishing stress, which is exemplified in the jerk 
of Irish pronunciation, produces, when continued throughout 
discourse, a vulgar monotony : whilst the thorough stress gives 
a rustic coarseness to speech. Some readers seem incapable of 
carrying on a long quantity through the equable concrete ; 
substituting in place of it the note of song. The most remark- 
able instance of this speech-singing is that of the public preach- 
ing of the Friends, which 1 shall particularly describe among 
the faults in melody. 

Of Faults in the Semitone. Who has not heard of whin- 
should be on 'passing' or on 'rich': thereby to determine whether the good vil- 
lage parson was passing or superlatively rich, with his forty pounds; or merely 
considered by his parish, as very well off in the world. 



384 THE FAULTS OP READERS. 

ing? It is the misplaced use of the semitone. The semitone 
is the language of love, tenderness, petition, complaint, and 
doubtful supplication : but never of manly confidence, and the 
authoritative self-reliance of truth. This is the ground which 
entraps the sycophant, and even the crafty hypocrite himself. 
They assume a gentle persuasion, or a more tuneful cant, not 
only because they wish to make it appear that they are moved 
by a kind and affectionate spirit, but because they distrust or 
despise themselves, and are therefore governed by the feeling 
of infirmity or meanness. The honesty of conviction calls for 
no subsidiary arts of this sort : suspicion should therefore be 
awake, when the show of truth or benevolence is proffered 
under this cringing intonation. 

The chromatic melody is more common among women. 
Actresses are prone to this fault, and it is one of the causes 
which frequently prevent their assuming the matron-rule of 
tragedy, and the dignified severity of epic reading. They 
sometimes intercede, threaten, complain, smile, and call the 
footman, all in the semitone. They can vow and love and 
burst into agony in Belvidera; but can not with masculine am- 
bition, order the scheme of murder in Lady Macbeth. 

The sentiments signified by the semitone, have been enu- 
merated. Whenever it supplants the proper diatonic melody, 
it becomes a fault, and begins to be monotonous ; for when 
appropriate it never is so. I once heard the part of Dr. Cant- 
well, in the Hypocrite, played in the chromatic melody 
throughout. Perhaps it suited the mock virtue of the pious 
villain, but it certainly produced a palling monotony on the 
ear ; and the want of transition in voice, when he throws off 
the mask, in addressing his patron's wife, was remarkable. 
He was the knave and the lover in the same intonation. On 
the whole, the effect would have been more agreeable, if an 
abated, slow, and monotonous drift of the second had pre- 
vailed, with the use of the chromatic melody when required 
by the sentiment. 

Of Faults in the Second. The ear has its green as well 
as the eye ; and the interval of the second in correct and ele- 
gant speech, like the verdure of the earth, is widely dis- 
tributed to relieve sensation from the fatiguing stimulus of 
more vivid impressions. Though the diatonic melody, is the 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 385 

predominating hue of a well composed elocution, is simple 
and unobtrusive, and thus affords a fine ground for bringing 
out the contrasted color of more expressive intervals ; it does, 
when continued into the place of this higher intonation, as- 
sume a positive character under the form of a fault. 

The most striking instance of the misapplication of the se- 
cond, is its employment for the sentiments which properly 
require the semitone. There are some persons of such a dull 
and frigid temperament, or with such inflexible organs, even 
when the feeling does not appear to be wanting, that they 
seem incapable, under ordinary motives, of executing the 
chromatic melody. Pain or the excitement of their selfish 
instincts will produce it : But in them it seems to be so 
slightly associated with a general tenderness of feeling, or so 
much beyond the limit of the will, that the most pathetic 
passages are given in the comparatively phlegmatic intonation 
of the diatonic melody. We sometimes see actors of such a 
temperament, on the emergencies of a night, cast to the part 
of lovers : and majr occasionally hear from the pulpit the most 
fervent appeals of the Litany, and the humble petitions of ex- 
temporary prayer, uttered with the same matter-of-fact into- 
nation which would be appropriate to the manner of repeat- 
ing the multiplication table. 

Some persons are so bound to the monotony of the second, 
(for when this element is thus misplaced it has the effect of 
monotony,) that we are often more indebted to grammatical 
construction, than to the voice, for a perception of their in- 
terrogations. It is the same too with their emphasis in those 
conditional and positive sentences which, for impressive and 
varied effect, respectively require the rising and falling in- 
terval of the third or fifth or octave. 

One of the most important functions of the second, is its 
agencjr in the formation of melody. It was shown in the sixth 
section that the best effect of the diatonic arrangement is pro- 
duced by a varied composition of the seven phrases. We have 
now to learn how far the common practice of readers, deviates 
from this assumed perfection. 

Of Faults in the Melody of Speech. If the rule laid down 
in this essay, for constructing an agreeable succession of phrases, 
is exact, 1 must by that rule declare I have never heard a 
2Y 



386 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

speaker with a good melody. Players spend their time before 
mirrors, till grace of person is studied into mannerism, and 
expression of feature distorted into grimace. Emphasis too is 
teased in experiment, through every word of a sentence, and 
tested in authority, by all the traditions of the Green-Room: — 
but who has ever thought of the succession of pitch in his syl- 
lables, or imagined that faults may lie there '. ! 

The First fault to be noticed is — the continued use of the 
monotone, or that of keeping on the same line of radical pitch ; 
the vanish of the second or of higher intervals, being properly 
performed. 1 do not here mean that monotony which writers 
have observed, and have illustrated by the drawl of the parish 
clerk ; for this is the note of song, and will be spoken of pre- 
sently. The defect of variation, in radical pitch, now under 
consideration, is not so glaring as this old conventicle tune, 
nor has it at all the character of song. I wish I could be near 
the reader, to show the nature of this fault without a further 
waste of words. All I can say in description is, that it takes 
from speech a very agreeable effect arising from a perception 
of the contrast of pitch in the falling ditone ; as the transition 
in this case is made from a feeble vanish, to a full radical, 
which in the diatonic succession, is at the distance of two 
tones below the summit of that vanish. 

One of the causes of this fault in public speakers, deserves to 
be remarked here. I spoke of vociferation as a means for im- 
parting vigor and fulness to the voice. But this exercise being 
made on a high pitch, sometimes tends to corrupt the style of 
melody. Speakers who address large assemblies, and who 
have not that clear vocality and distinct articulation which 
produce the requisite reach of voice, generally attempt to re- 
medy the defect by rising to the utmost limit of the natural 
compass ; and there hold their current just below the falsette. 
For fear of breaking into this, they dare not vary the melody 
by taking their pitch alternately higher: and the desire to 
preserve the diffusive effect of shrillness does not allow them 
to descend by radical changes. They consequently continue 
on one monotonous line : and thus vitiate their taste by the 
partial pleas of their own example; impair their melodial flexi- 
bility, if I may so call it ; and blunt their perception of the 
variety of movement in a more reduced current of pitch. 



TH& FAULTS OF READERS. 387 

This cause operates on the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Stage ; 
where the demands of the space to be filled exceed the com- 
mon powers of the voice: but it is most conspicuous in the 
melody of those whose purposes lead them to address great 
crowds in the open air. 

Secondly. Melody is deformed by a predominance of the 
phrase of the monotone, together with a full cadence at every 
pause- This perhaps is only found in the first attempts at 
reading by children and rustics. 

Thirdly. By a mingling of the phrases of melody, but 
with a formal return of the same successions. In this case, 
the whole discourse seems subdivided into sections, nearly re- 
sembling each other in the order of pitch. The extent of these 
portions is generally determined by the length of entire sen- 
tences, or by the shorter divisions of their members. And 1 
may now make a remark which properly belongs to the sub- 
ject of rythmus, — that this peculiar habit of the ear in mark- 
ing the sections of melody, as well as in forming accentual 
and pausal sections, has a very close connexion with the 
character of style in a writer. It certainly can not have es- 
caped observation that there is a tendency in some persons to 
give equality to the length of their sentences : and this is in 
many instances dependent on their elocution. But the niceties 
of this subject will receive due consideration, at some future 
-time, when we who speak English shall recover, or rather on 
this point, first receive common sense enough together with 
independence, to authorize a denial that the best method for 
studying our own language, is through the syntax and prosody 
of the Latin and the Greek. 

There is no special form of melody assumed by all speakers; 
each one falls into a habit of his own : though it is plain, from 
the very method of construction, that there can not be a great 
variety. All actors, except those of the first class, and they 
are not as finished on this point as they may be hereafter, all 
actors I say, are prone to this bird-like kind of intonation. 
They have a short run of melody which if not forcibly inter- 
rupted by some peculiar expression, is constantly recurring. 
The return forms a kind of melodtal measure : and I now call 
to mind an Actress, once the vogue, whose intonation was 
filled with emphasis of thirds, fifths, octaves and waves ; and 



388 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

whose melody could be anticipated, with something like the 
forerunning of the mind over the rythmus of a common stanza 
of alternate versification. Those who commit this fault will 
have no difficulty in recognizing and correcting it, if desirable, 
when the mirror of analysis is held before them. 

The monotonous course of melody constitutes one of the 
signs by which the gallery, and some of their better dressed 
peers in the boxes, distinguish the voices of famous actors, and 
think they represent their real points of excellence, when they 
mimick only what is strongly offensive and worthless. In the 
fault to which I allude, the recurring portion of the melody in 
itself often consists of a properly varied succession of phrases : 
but by repetition you learn it too well. The whole current in 
this case reminds one of the festoon, which however beautiful 
in itself, was in abasement of Greek architectural taste, joined 
in endless continuation around the frieze ; instead of suggest- 
ing a resemblance to that successive variety in composition 
which adorned the metopes of the Parthenon. 

Fourthly. I have known more than one speaker with this 
fault. — Sentences or members of sentences are begun aloud on 
a high pitch, and ended with a low and almost inaudible voice: 
and this is continued successively throughout a whole dis- 
course. It would be hard to find out the meaning of this fault, 
or to discover such a shadow of apology for it, as many worse 
offences in life can claim for themselves. 

One of the persons thus addicted to this monstrous piece 
of affectation, for no natural or conventional motive could 
ever have suggested it, was, by the associates of his long since 
departed day of self-importance, called < a fine reader.' Such 
instances of fame may serve to substantiate an assertion, that, 
there is no art in which self-imposition is more conspicuous 
than in Elocution. Where there is no acknowledged rule of 
excellence, every one, whether cultivated or not, makes his 
own partialities or interests the standard. Having learned 
somewhere that it is the part of good reading to fulfil the de- 
signs of sense and sentiment, and as each one in his attempts, 
fulfils his own conception of an author, he fairly concludes that 
he possesses the full power of the art. Hence one reason why 
we find so much delusion on the subject of this accomplish- 
ment. For, reputed ' good readers' are often not merely 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 389 

negatively deficient ; they are frequently positively bad : and 
perverse as it may seem in the very teeth of the professed ap- 
probation of a majority, I have generally gone to learn the 
faults of speakers, when called to hear some star of elocution 
at the bar, in the senate, the pulpit, or the reading club. Loud 
noises, seem to have always been the delight of savages in their 
first step towards music ; so the exaggerated and consequent- 
ly striking character of the elements of speech, is always most 
agreeable to the uninstructed ear. 

Fifthly. I illustrated, in the section on melody, the man- 
ner in which the transitions of pitch are made from one line, to 
another above or below it. Some persons find it difficult to shift 
the radical in this manner. This defect not only takes from 
the variety of utterance, but prevents a reader from passing 
from a very high or low pitch, when he has improperly set out 
in either. Speakers sometimes descend so far that they have 
not enough compass left, below the line of current melody, to 
permit an audible execution of the last constituent of the ca- 
dence. In this case they feel the feeble and unsatisfactory 
effect of their intonation, without perceiving the cause of it or 
being able to apply the remedy. A knowledge of the mode of 
melodial progression, and of the space through which the 
cadence descends, will enable the reader to avoid the fault here 
pointed out. 

We noticed formerly the circumstance of a reader, with a 
good ear, having a sort of precursive perception of the falsette, 
sufficient to enable him to turn from it, when his melody is 
moving near the top of his natural voice. The same kind of 
anticipation of the lowest note, enables such a reader to keep 
his cadence within the limit of distinct articulation. 

Sixthly. The use of the protracted radical and vanish, 
instead of the equable concrete, is one of the widest deviations 
from the characteristic of speech. For it has been shown that 
a proper melody, the diatonic as I have called it, consists of an 
equable movement through the interval of a second, with an 
agreeably varied radical-change through the same space : the 
current being occasionally broken by wider equable transitions, 
and by different modes of stress, according as the sentiments 
may require any of these additions upon individual words. 

In as much as this fault is an error of long quantity, it is not 



390 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

often heard in the hasty pronunciation of common life. 1 have 
however met with a slight degree of it in a phlegmatic drawler. 
Public speakers overwrought by excitement, or straining their 
throats to be heard, I say, — straining their throats, instead of 
energising their voices, are most apt to fall into this error of 
intonation. Some of the cases of this fault that have fallen 
under my notice, were connected with a monotonous current 
melody, and a very defective management of the cadence. I 
heard it under the form of the protracted radical, along with 
other heinous offences against good elocution, in one of the 
public's 'great actors.' It was most conspicuous in his endeav- 
our to give long quantity to immutable syllables; as in the 
following words of Macbeth. 

Canst thou not ra— inister to a m — ind diseased; 
PI — uck from the m — emory, &c. 

1 have here set a dash after the letters on which he continued 
the protracted radical, until it suddenly vanished in the termi- 
nation of the syllable. The actor's fault was a lapse from a 
just instinct. He felt obscurely the need of vocal quantity for 
the purpose of expression, but being one of those who having 
some animal spirits, with little intellect, no education, and an 
inverse proportion of vanity, are always talking about genius, 
he never once thought of such things, as marring the nature of 
an immutable syllable, nor of the practicability of leading a 
subtonic element through the equable concrete: matters that 
would long ago have been prepared for his instruction, if there 
had been in the dramatic art more observation and reflection, 
and less noisy foolishness about the stage doctrine of 'Identity' 
and of self-sufiicient genius. 

Seventhly. The fault of melody I am now about to con- 
sider, is somewhat related to that last described, in using the 
protracted notes. But it adds the other modes of intonation 
which in the second section were ascribed to song : the whole 
being confused in such a manner with the equable concrete, as 
to destroy every design of speech, and to exhibit the ultra 
example of vocal deformity. 

In the history of man, there is nothing more indefinite than 
descriptions of the voice : but there is reason for believing that 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 391 

this deformed melody is the same with that puritanical whine, 
which was affected so generally in religious worship, in Eng- 
land, above two hundred years ago. It has been changed into 
other faults scarcely less censurable, by the pulpit of the present 
day. The society of Friends alone have retained it as a general 
practice : and it will not be regarded as either idle or invidious, 
to look into the structure of this most remarkable intonation, 
by the light of our preceding analysis. 

I shall first set down the notation of this melody, and after- 
wards particularly explain it. 

I heard a voice from heaven say-ing, write, 



j PtpSfg^cT^ 



%" 



bl-ess-ed are the dead who die in the Lord. 






I have under its several places, spoken of the minor third or 
plaintive interval of one tone and a half. A melody founded 
on a current of minor thirds, has that excessive or peculiar 
plaintiveness which forbids a repetition of its effect in speech. 
Now the above notation, is with a few exceptions a melody of 
minor thirds ; and its unpleasant and monotonous whine is 
produced by the drift of that interval. 

Upon this staff, let the third be minor. Then the first and 
second syllables are protracted vanishes upon a concrete minor 
third. 'A' and 'voice' are protracted radicals to a concrete 
descent of the same interval. 'From' is a protracted radical 
to the rising interval of a minor third. ' Heaven' is a minor 
third of the same elemental form with ' voice'. The two 
syllables of 'saying' are equable concretes, respectively, of 
an upward and downward tone. The rest severally resem- 
ble those already described ; except ' who,' — which consists 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

of a protracted radical to a direct wave of the minor third 
whose downward constituent terminates in a protracted vanish. 

In the execution of this melody, there is not only the gene- 
ral effect of a monotonous song, but there are peculiar and 
striking contrasts, arising from the various effects of the chan- 
ges among these different elements of intonation. The most 
extraordinary liberties are taken with quantity. The long, 
however, as necessary for the notes of song, predominates. 
There is here no distinction between immutable and indefinite 
syllables : the shortest are not only prolonged to any extent, 
as in ? write,' but they are divided as in ' voice,' which is ap- 
portioned to the two parts of its symbol, as if it were 'voy'- 
' iss'. 1 have introduced the equable concrete among the pro- 
tracted notes, and have put the cadence into the diatonic form, 
to exemplify those abrupt and rdusing changes of the whole 
nature of intonation, which are sometimes made at the pauses 
and close of this most fantastic melody. I have not exhibited 
all the varieties into which the above named elements, to- 
gether with the tremor, and the wider intervals, are combined 
in it. But I have shown enough to furnish a plan for self- 
examination and amendment. 

If those who are accustomed to this melody should ask 

why it may not be employed, if it is by habit agreeable, and 
reverenced by association with the occasions of its use ? I 

answer, that throwing aside taste, and regarding plain 

usefulness, it does not accomplish the attainable ends of speech. 
By speech we communicate our thoughts ; and in the duties 
of religion, there are motives and zeal, to do it with the most 
forcible means of persuasion or argument. So far as the voice 
is concerned in these duties, its means lie principally in the 
energy and expression of emphasis. But by the mode of in- 
tonation in the remarkable melody now in view, the varying 
designs of emphasis are counteracted by the almost continued 
impression of a plaintive song ; or are crossed in purpose by 
the unmeaning obtrusion of unexpected changes. How can 
the sentiments which dictate the encouraging descriptions of 
blessedness and glory be represented by the trembling voice 
of distress ? How can the sober positiveness of truth, and 
the wonder at almighty power, which require the downward 
concrete, be enforced by the shrillness of a perpetual cry ? 
How can we particularize the strong feeling of supplication, 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 393 

if we equally employ its symbols in the threats of vengeance? 
And with what force can we represent interrogation, if the 
sharp vanishes, which are instinctively allotted to it, are often 
so unmeaningly playing in the voice? 

Whoever regards the words of ordinary song, knows into 
what confusion emphasis is there thrown. It is not more clear 
or correct in the kind of melody we are now considering. 

I have thus made the strongest representation of this fault. 
It is sometimes heard in a more moderate degree, especially in 
the voices of women ; consisting of a slight protraction of the 
top of the vanish on all the long quantities of discourse. 

This singing melody, as delivered in the public meeting- 
house, by men as well as women, is generally of a high or 
piercing pitch ; this being the means of audibility usually em- 
ployed by persons of uncultivated voice. 

Of Faults in the Cadence. If I were to designate any 
parts of utterance as particularly liable to faults, they would 
be those of the radical succession of melody, and the cadence. 
Even the best readers do not seem to have fallen accidentally 
into all the attainable variety, in the execution of the current 
and close of discourse. But faults in the cadence are the most 
striking. 

We can assign a cause for the frequent failures upon this 
point. 

Whoever will attend to the course of the voice in the com- 
mon dialogue of life, will perceive that the earnest interests 
of speech, the sharp replications and interruptions of argu- 
ment, the inquisitiveness of idle curiosity, and the piercing 
pitch of mirth and anger exclude, in a great measure, the ter- 
minating repose of the cadence. This is particularly the case 
with children and the ignorant, who having no spring of ac- 
tion except interested curiosity and selfish passion, rarely 
exhibit any intonation besides that of the higher and more ex- 
pressive intervals of the voice. When therefore a person first 
undertakes to read the discourse of others, the conversational 
habit is not at once laid aside : and it is apt to cleave long 
afterwards to speech. 

Faults in the execution of the cadence are various : and 
if its total absence might be called a fault, 1 could cite an in- 
stance of a clergyman, whom I heard go through an address 
2Z 



394 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

of fifteen minutes without once making a cadence ; no, not 
even at his final period. The audience were notified to sit 
down, by his terminative Amen, not through the proper indi- 
cation of the close by his voice. 

But even those who have the ability to make a cadence, are 
infected by the next fault to be mentioned. 

1 described ten forms of the cadence. This was done as a 
philosophical analysis ; to point out distinctions which may 
be made by an accurate ear, and in reality executed by those 
who have flexibility of intonation. For the purposes of in- 
structive rule, we may particularize the Feeble, the Duad, 
the Triad, and the Prepared cadences. These are quite suffi- 
cient for the ordinary purposes of reading ; and vocal skill 
can always effect an interchangeable variety of them, in the 

succession of periods. The next fault then consists in 

a repetition at every pause, of the same kind of cadence, and 
that generally a full one. This fault is increased by the com- 
mon mode of punctuation, which often sets a period at places, 
where the voice should be only suspended by the phrase of 
the downward ditone. 

1 have heard a player of high character use what we former- 
ly called a false cadence : that is, a descent of the third by 
radical change, the second constituent of the Triad being alto- 
gether omitted. This false cadence is sometimes made on a 
wider discrete interval ; the voice suddenly falling a fifth or 
even an octave, if the pitch has been high enough to allow 
these descents. 

Some persons are in the habit of making the cadence in a 
low and almost inaudible pitch. I have said this arises from a 
want of that prospective reach of perception in the ear, which 
enables a reader to hit the precise place for his cadence. One 
who has not this skill, may indeed know that the period- 
pause is coming, and that therefore the voice should descend : 
but being ignorant at what point he ought to begin, in the fear 
of falling precipitately upon the close, he prepares for it too 
soon. A downward ditone is first made, and some instinct 
preventing him from adding the next tone below, by which 
the cadence would be completed before its time, he adds a 
monotone, and again tries a downward ditone. In this man- 
ner he descends, till with an enfeebled voice, the cadence is 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 395 

made on the three final syllables. The process here described 
is not indeed continued through many words; most readers 
would in that case soon exhaust their pitch. Yet this does 
sometimes happen : for the voice by this shelving course is at 
last brought down to a whisper. 

Of Faults in the Third. The third is properly employed 
in the moderate forms of interrogation and in conditional 
phrases. Some readers however execute the whole current 
melody in the rise of this interval : the emphatie words in this 
case being marked by some of the modes of stress on the third, 
or by a higher run to the fifth. There is a disagreeable sharp- 
ness in this melody. It wants force ; for it abates by com- 
parison the impressive character of the higher intervals when 
emphasis requires their introduction. 1 have heard persons 
with this fault try to read Milton and Shakspeare, and always 
without success. The current of dignified utterance must al- 
ways consist of the wave of the second on the long quantities 
of discourse. No simple upward concrete can effect it : 
though the rise of a wide interval may be occasionally em- 
ployed for emphasis in the gravest drift of the diatonic melo- 
dy. A speaker who uses the third as his current concrete, 
feels the necessity of avoiding a simple rise ; and therefore 
sometimes returns it downward into the form of the wave. 
This does not mend the effect, as we shall learn presently. 

Another fault in the third, even when the whole current is 
not made by that interval, lies in forming all the emphases 
with it. This likewise gives a sharpness to speech, together 
with a monotony ; for one of the causes of beauty in utter- 
ance consists in the variation of the kinds of emphasis: and 
we pointed out, in its proper place, the abundant means in the 
voice, for this variety. 

The substitution of the third for the second in melody is 
principally offensive from its monotony. And the reader may 
recollect it was said in the section on Drift, that these higher 
intervals will not bear continued repetition. 

Of Faults in the Fifth. The interval of the fifth is some- 
times made the current concrete of melody : the peculiar ef- 
fect of the intonation being most conspicuous in the emphatie 
places. It is a less frequent fault than the last, and is more 
commonly heard in women. It has a palpable monotony, 



396 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

and a still greater sharpness than that of the third : the whole 
melody having the construction and effect of an interrogative 
sentence. 

A less remarkable degree of this fault is that of a diatonic 
melody in which all the emphases are made by the fifth. This 
too has its sharpness and monotony; and I am sure the reader 
will be sufficiently guarded against this fault, by keeping in 
mind the ample resources of the voice for the production of 
varied emphasis. 

Those who thus misplace the third and fifth, are apt to carry 
them into the cadence : such readers end many of their plain 
declarative sentences with the characteristic intonation of a 
question. 

I might point out a similar error of place in the Octave : but 
it is of rare occurrence, and to be observed only in the piercing 
treble of female voices. Some persons can not ask a question in 
the subdued and dignified form of the third or fifth, but do it 
always in the keen or facetious intonation of the octave. 

Of Faults in the Downward Movement. The faults 
mentioned throughout this section are found more or less 
among those who are called good readers. When instruction 
shall grow out of the philosophy of speech, instead of imita- 
tion, the defects of utterance, now so common as to require 
notice, will be confined, like the faults of grammar, to the un- 
educated part of the world. As far as I have observed, there 
are no very conspicuous errors from the abuse of the down- 
ward intervals. If the falling second should disproportionally 
predominate in the current melody, it will give a graveness to 
the utterance which may happen to be misplaced. The wider 
intervals do not often occur as faults: since it requires some skill 
to use them in their emphatic positiveness, and he who can thus 
execute them correctly, will not be likely to misapply them. 

Of Faults in the Discrete Movement. Of defects in the 
management of the radical change of the second which forms 
the diatonic melody, we have already spoken. Precipitate 
falls of the third, fifth, and octave sometimes occur in the ca- 
dence of very bad readers. Others again are unable to effect 
those upward and downward radical transitions, by which ac- 
complished readers produce some of the most striking features 
of emphasis. 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 397 

Of Faults in the Wave. The reader must bear in mind 
that the wave of the second, both in its direct and inverted 
form, is dignified but plain in its character, and therefore ad- 
missible into the diatonic melody as a drift. But it is not so 
with the waves of higher intervals. They have their proper 
occasions as solitary emphasis ; whereas the continued repeti- 
tion of them becomes to the ear of good taste a disgusting 
fault. The form of the wave which is commonly affected 
by a certain puling class of readers, is that of the inverted- 
unequal, the voice descending through the second, and rising 
through the third or fifth. This fault is most remarkable 
in the reading of metrical composition ; and it is probable 
that the bad habit with some, may have arisen from associa- 
tions with tune which is generally united with verse. Per- 
sons who read in this way give a set melody to their lines ; 
certain parts of each line, as far as the emphatic words will 
permit, having a prominent intonation of the wave. 

There is much of every form of the wave in conversation : 
and the general spirit of daily dialogue often makes it appro- 
priate there. But I have heard the colloquial twirl even ex- 
aggerated by an Actress of great temporary reputation. Her 
style consisted of a continual recurrence of identical sections 
of melody, composed principally of the wider forms of the 
equal and unequal wave : which showed indeed a vocal pert- 
ness, and a sort of vivid familiarity, that some called spirit, 
but which wanted the brilliant dignity of execution, that a per- 
former of High Comedy owes to the author. 

Some actors are prone to the use of the double wave. They 
make it the emphasis of every feeling, not with the intention 
indeed, but certainly with the event, to denote that they them- 
selves have none. It is an impressive element, and is there- 
fore often thoughtlessly introduced to give prominent effect 
and variety to melody. It has however, restrictively, its 
proper duty and place : and it should be remembered that 
there is a sneering petulance in its character, totally incon- 
sistent with dignity. 

There is nothing better calculated to show the importance 
of the plain ground of the diatonic melody in speech, than this 
abuse of the wave. It includes the effects of faults in the third 
and fifth, and consequently gives to discourse the most florid 



398 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

and impressive character. But when such striking intonation 
is set on every important syllable, — how shall we mark em- 
phatic words except by the utmost excesses in quality or time 
of force ? 

Of Faults in the Melody of the Pause. In the section 
on Pause, it was shown what phrases of melody were proper 
for connecting and for separating the ideas of discourse. Those 
who may hereafter look into this subject, will see the fitness 
of the allotment there made ; and will moreover be struck with 
the violations of sense and variety so commonly heard among 
readers : some of whom set a rising third or fifth at most of 
the sub-pauses, and even at the period. A want of nicety too, 
in varying the kinds of cadence according to the fulness of the 
close is a very general fault : for there is great clearness given 
to style, by that delicacy of perception which leads a reader to 
put the feeble cadence at doubtful periods, and the prepared 
cadence at the end of a paragraph or chapter. 

Of Faults in Drift. The variety and true spirit of read- 
ing are effected, by a delicate regard to the correspondence be- 
tween sentiment and vocal expression, in individual words ; 
and to the Drift or continuation of a given elemental character 
through one or more sentences : whereas a neglect of this ad- 
justment, will, according to its degree, weaken the impression 
of utterance, or shock the ear and taste of an auditor. Some 
readers continue one style of voice through every change of 
thought and passion : others vary the character of the utter- 
ance without adapting it to the demands of sentiment. 

Under the last head, we spoke of the power of the prepared 
cadence to indicate the termination of a paragraph or subject. 
Now certain changes in the structure of melody, which were 
formerly described, may be employed to warn an audience of 
the beginning of a paragraph or subject. The deficiency of a 
speaker on this point is a flagrant fault. 

The object most worthy of remark in this place, is the sud- 
den transition from one style of utterance to another without 
a corresponding change in the subject. I remember to have 
heard an actor set the house into a hum of laughter by making 
that answer of Jaffier to the conspirators — 

Nay — by Heaven I'll do this, 



THE FAULTS OF READERS. 399 

in the curling quaintness of the wave. The sentiments of 
Jaffier, the solemnity of the juncture, the purpose of his en- 
trance among the conspirators, are all at variance with the 
levity of the sneer, conveyed by this intonation. Severity of 
resolution, is Jaffier's sentiment ; and this calls for some of the 
energies of stress, and the positiveness of the downward em- 
phasis. I have tried in vain to make a term to designate those 
outrageous transitions, sometimes heard on the stage. They 
belong to the head of the faults of Drift : but we must speak 

of them as 'deeds without a name.' "What I mean is, 

those abrupt changes from high to low ; from a roar to a 

whisper ; from quick to slow ; harsh to soft ; from 

the diatonic melody to the chromatic ; from the gravity of 

long quantity to the levity of sneer, the quick stress of anger 
and mirth, or the rapid mutterings of a madman. 

There are two different defences may be set up for a par- 
ticular mode of Elocution. The one, that it is a copy from 
nature : the other, that it does artificially best answer the ends 
of speech. I can not derive an apology for such flagitious tran- 
sitions, from either of these sources. I have seen persons un 
der the highest excitement of passion, and changing from one 
degree and kind of feeling to another ; but I have never heard 
any thing like the harlequin-transformations of voice, which 
are sometimes played off upon the stage, except in a paroxysm 
of hysteria. On the other hand, suppose the practice to be an 
'artificial system, (to which 1 would make no objection, provi- 
ded it fulfilled all wise and fair ends) — what recommendation 
on the score of order can that plan boast, which annuls all the 
beauty and frugality of rule, which destroys by its anomaly 
and abruptness all the pleasures of anticipation, and takes 
from the fine arts, the delight in boundless association, which 
arises from the busy exercise of well-established knowledge. 

The truth is, that where this fault does not arise from igno- 
rance, it is purposely assumed with the view to produce what 
the small vocabulary of dramatic criticism, calls ' Effect.' The 
actor finding himself deficient in variety, and in that complete 
finish of expression, which drowns scrutiny in approbation, 
tries to remedy his poverty by breaking through the even 
tenor of the part, with some rousing stimulus or unexpected 
collapse. We must however do some actors the justice to be- 



400 THE FAULTS OF READERS. 

lieve that they have too true an estimate both of nature and 
art, to approve of such things. But how shall we absolve 
them from the charge of submitting to what they know to be 
ill-judged applause ; and of being ' willing to deceive the peo- 
ple because they will be deceived,' — the easy art and resource 
of weakness, and the wretched apology of knavery and am- 
bition. It is the part of elevated intellect to undeceive the 
world even by unwelcome truths ; to make all men at last bow 
down ; and to be the master, instead of the slave of opinion. 

We need not specify the faults which fall within the subject 
of grouping. Errors in the connexion or separation of ideas 
in discourse belong rather to the mind than to the voice. 

Of Monotony of Voice. This is an old term in elocution : 
but it is here used with a more extensive signification than 
formerly. It means, in general, the undue continuation of any 
function of the voice. 

The investigation of this subject may furnish some support 
to the doctrine of expression laid down in this essay. For 
since I have asserted that correct and varied speech is effected 
by a certain composition of the vocal elements, it will afford 
no little countenance to this proposed system, if it be found 
that the transgression of its rules, as far as regards the limited 
use of these elements, is productive of the palling impression 
of monotony. 

One can scarcely point out an occasion, on which the simple 
rise of the second, or the diatonic wave has this effect : for 
according to our system these are properly the most frequent 
movements in discourse. The employment of the second in 
place of other functions, may sometimes produce an error in 
expression, but we do not call it monotony. The chromatic 
melody, though a continuation of the impressive interval of the 
semitone, is not monotonous, if the sentiment is suited to its 
plaintiveness: but many of the other elements when spread 
over discourse offend by this fault. Thus a repeated succession 
of the same phrases in the current melody ; the same kind of 
cadence, particularly if it frequently occurs ; the successive 
use of the downward second in melody ; a melody formed on 
the third or fifth ; a restriction of emphasis to the third or fifth 
or octave ; a constant use of the accent and emphasis of the 
radical stress ; the vanishing stress ; the tremor ; the down- 



THE FAULTS OP READERS. 401 

ward wider intervals ; too free a use of distant skips in the 
radical change, both in the current and in the cadence ; the 
higher waves ; and the protracted notes of song may each 
become the basis of monotony. In short it may be worth 
repeating in this place, that all those elements which nature has 
allotted to the rare occasions of emphasis seem to be protected 
against abuse, by the occurrence of monotony whenever their 
purpose is perverted by an undue repetition. 

Of Ranting in Speech. This fault consists in the excess 
of certain elements. These are loudness ; violence in the 
radical and vanishing stresses ; and in general, an overdoing 
of the expression of any sentiments, when united with force. 

Of Affectation in Speech. This consists simply in a misap- 
plication of the functions of the voice, whatever may be the 
system assumed as the standard of purity and excellence in 
the art. 

Of Mouthing in Speech. This belongs properly to the 
head of the faults of articulation, or deviations from standard 
pronunciation ; of which it is not my intention to speak par- 
ticularly. 

Mouthing consists in the improper employment of the lips 
in utterance. 

Some of the tonic elements, and one of the subtonics are 
made by the assistance of the lips. They are ' o-we,' ' oo-ze,' 
1 ou-r,' and ' m.' When these abound in speech it is apt to 
lead to this Omega-ism ; if mouthing, may be so called, from 
the letter which usually exhibits it. All the other subtonics 
may be, to a degree, infected with this fault. It slightly infuses 
the sound of the 'o-we' or 'oo-ze' into their vocality : for the 
protrusion of the lips, gives something of this character even 
to a lingual element. Mouthing may be called a mode of 
affectation. 

1 might here give a particular description of the voices of 
Childhood and of Age : for these may be looked upon as faults, 
when compared with the full-formed, vigorous and varied 
utterance of intermediate periods. The analysis which has 
been given will enable an observant reader to discover their 
characteristics. He will find the voice of childhood to be high 
in pitch, monotonous in melody, defective in cadence, the 
intonation often chromatic, and highly colored by the wider 
3A 



402 CONCLUSION. 

intervals and by the wave. He will find old age to be slow, 
with frequent pauses, slight radical stress, and tremor. 

1 have thus described many of the faults of speakers in their 
single state, under the several heads of the individual ele- 
ments. They are compounded by bad speakers, into all pos- 
sible numbers and forms. The permutations would defy every 
attempt towards a useful classification : I therefore leave the 
contemplation of the subject as a task for the reader. 



Here I finish the history of the Speaking voice. It has been 
my design throughout this work to subject nature to a prying 
examination ; to measure her by the simple but rigid rule of 
the senses ; and to unfold her mysteries with comprehensive 
arrangement and philosophic precision. How far these points 
have been accomplished, the intelligent reader must determine, 
with that allowance for minor errors which the historian of 
nature has a right to claim, and which the liberal critic will not 
refuse. 

Those to whom the subject of Elocution, in its higher mean- 
ing, is new, will receive this history without prejudice ; and 
though they may not have occasion to lay up its practical rules, 
will still admire the beautiful economy of nature, in the struc- 
ture of speech. Those who have spent a life of labour, by the 
little light which has as yet been set up in the art, and who are 
too old or proud or dull to take on a new mind, with the ad- 
vancement of knowledge, will at least learn from this essay 
the deficiencies of the old schemes of analysis and instruction, 
even though they may not admit that these deficiencies are 
here supplied. If the development now offered, were the 
mere improvement of an art, persons of this last class might 
be able to discover traces of their former opinions, and thereby 
have reason for admitting it. But finding here a new creation, 
they may reject it altogether, because they can not recognize 
the fulfilment of some fancied plan of a science, which they 
had named but never knew. 

However philosophy may admire the beauty of nature in 
this scheme of the human voice, it must be regarded as a cu- 
riosity only, if it does not lead to some practical application. 



CONCLUSION. 403 

I have therefore joined with the physiological analysis, a con- 
sideration of the means for facilitating instruction, and for 
improving the art. We have learned the plain diatonic sign of 
thought, and the more impressive voices of expression. We 
have seen how speech may be dignified without being dull, and 
plaintive without exhibiting the affectation of a whine : how 
it may be full in quality and graceful in its vanishing construc- 
tion : how its measurable movements may be adjusted to the 
pauses of discourse : and how definitely all the modes of em- 
phasis may be ascertained. 

If we were to draw an inference from the conceits and 
practice of mankind, we would believe that the modes of a 
good elocution are endless ; for every one with peculiar self- 
satisfaction thinks he reads well, and yet all read differently. 
There is however but one mode of reading well : and I have 
endeavoured upon the warrant of analysis, to lay down the 
plan of a system which may be hereafter adopted and comple- 
ted. The principles on the subject of intonation have been 
drawn partly from the best practice of the Stage ; partly from 
the almost infinite variety of common speech ; and partly from 
a consideration of the suitableness of the various fashions of 
Elocution, and a selection from them, which promises to be the 
most effective in operation, and the most durably pleasing to a 
cultivated ear. 

Without some established principles in intonation, there can 
be none of that fellowship in opinion which so powerfully as- 
sists in the advancement of an art. For though nature would 
seem to have fixed certain sounds as symbols of thought, still 
the differences in practice tend to confound her ordination and 
weaken her authority. If the subject of the human voice be 
thoroughly examined, and some system be established thereon, 
it will beget a similarity of opinion and practice, and conse- 
quently greater precision in the use of its signs : for the modes 
of intonation, like words, will have most force, when most 
common, and when not weakened by contradictory meanings. 

In collecting and framing the precepts of Elocution, I have 
taken into view-both the strength and the beauty of expression. 
The system represents corrected and dignified nature, under 
that form of severe simplicity, which is not at first alluring to 
him who is unaccustomed to look into the resources and effects 



404 CONCLUSION. 

of the arts. The art of reading, thus established, will be found 
to possess an excellence, which must grow into sure and irre- 
versible favor, whenever it receives that studious attention 
which serves to raise the pursuits of the wise above those of 
the vulgar. It would be too trite to tell the whole story of the 
great painter, who with his mind full of fancies on the powers 
of RafFaelle, was disappointed at his first sight of the walls of 
the Vatican, and disconsolate after his last. 

The florid style of elocution, which consists in a melody 
formed upon other elements than those of the diatonic, is 
founded on that ignorance and that sway of imagination and 
passion which prevail with the child and the savage. The same 
temper of taste which calls for the florid manner in speech, de- 
mands a perpetual change in it ; and capricious alteration takes 
the place of enduring improvement. The system of plain 
melody and contrasted expression for which 1 would plead, 
partakes of that simplicity which an advance in the arts always 
produces. 

If this scheme of Elocution should, on the grounds of pro- 
priety or taste, be objectionable, let another be formed by him 
who is better qualified for the task. Only, let a system be 
formed. And whilst in other arts we can turn to the imagined 
forms of an 'Apollo,' a 'Transfiguration', and a Doric facade, 
and to the humanly-associated compositions of the Oratorio 
and the Landscape — let Elocution be able hereafter, not only 
to bring forward the names of Roscius, Garrick, Siddons and 
Talma, but let it lay up in the cabinet of the arts, a description 
of their works, and a record of the principles upon which they 
were executed. In short, let the art of speaking-well be inves- 
ted with that corporate capacity, by the preservative succession 
of which the influence of its highest masters shall never die. 

The true spirit of fellowship among the votaries of the arts, 
and the bad temper of disagreement, turns so entirely on their 
identity of opinion, that any one who has examined this sub- 
ject, would prefer an institute which almost abandons the line 
of nature, as a substitute for the varying and contradictory 
rules which the individuals of nature would constantly suggest. 

The scholar whose study lies among languages, estimates 
those which have received their systematic form from the ar- 
bitrary institutions of grammar and prosody, above those 



CONCLUSION. 405 

which spring naturally from the wants and passions of unculti- 
vated society. 

Where shall we find the natural prototype of Heraldry, 
which makes the enthusiast, over his armorial ensigns, delight 
in the purely invented system of the Escutcheon and its 
Charges, and watch their disposition by all the rules of blazonry? 

What book of Botany can designate that leaf and stem 
which forms the floral scroll, the symmetric lotus, the acanthus, 
and the varied cup which constitute the beautiful and endless 
combination or ornament in Ideal Foliage ? To the cultivated 
eye, the chosen productions of the garden are meagre and un- 
graceful, beside the rich windings and leafing and tracery on 
the frieze of the Frontispiece of Nero. 

These three subjects are all the systematic creations of art ; 
and it would seem that objects of intellectual as well as of 
physical taste are more satisfactory, when enjoyed through ac- 
quired appetite and approbation. 

Without some system of principles, either natural or conven- 
tional, I am at a loss to know on what criticism in Elocution is 
to be founded. Its rules have too frequently been drawn from 
the very works which are to be the subject of investigation. 
Garrick is to be tried ; and by the common law, for there is 
no statute here, the former case of Garrick is the rule of judg- 
ment. Happy for an art, when such authority can be cited ! 
But what is to be said when presumption pushes itself into the 
front ranks of elocution, and thoughtless friends undertake to 
support it ? The fraud must go on, till presumption quarrels, as 
often happens, with its own friends or with itself, and thus dis- 
solves the spell of its merits. 

The preceding analysis contains elements of criticism, and 
makes some effort towards their application. Pronunciation, 
pause and emphasis are the only points of elocution which 
critics have ever brought to the precision of particulars : and 
on these only have they been able to show any thing like de- 
finite censure or applause. By turning our attention to the 
details of Intonation, we have yet to learn how far emphasis 
depends upon it : and when a perception of the multiplied 
functions of speech is awakened by analysis and nomenclature, 
we will then first perceive how the designs of emphasis, in 



406 CONCLUSION. 

the full acceptation of the term, may be marred by defects in 
the delicate schemes of melody and intonated expression. 

Look at a formal review of dramatic performance ; you 
will find in it, words enough, and very good grammar. You 
can not however avoid observing a strong disposition on the 
part of the writer, to say something, when he has nothing to 
say : hence after exhausting a small vocabulary of unmeaning 
or most general terms, sometimes misapplied and always 
mawkish to a delicate taste, such as 'chasteness,' 'by-play,' 
' undertone,' ' freshness,' ' harmony,' ' effect' and ' keeping. ' 
— I say, after hurrying over these indefinites, the writer soon 

makes his way to surer ground, in noting the number and 

dress of the audience ; the comfort of the seats in the or- 
chestra ; the bad taste of the stage side-doors, with thanks to 
the manager, or censure, for the good or bad effect of recent 
alterations in the shape or the rules of the house ; the habit of 
slamming doors; the noise of iron-shod boots: copious extracts 
from some of Shakspeare's best-known scenes, and a reprint 
of one of Cumberland's criticisms. 

The preceding essay furnishes principles and definite terms 
by which the specific merits and defects of an actor or a 
speaker may be distinctly represented ; by which the inde- 
scribable mysteries of speech, as they are called, may be told 
to other ages than those that heard them ; by which arrogance 
and imposture in this art, may be wrested from their hold on 
the better part of mankind, and their rule left undisturbed 
over that great majority which is always ready to support the 
small frauds of life, and which, in its way, does receive a sort 
of pleasure from the changing pictures of its credulity. 

The same acute and comprehensive observation which 
makes an interpreter of nature, makes a prophet in the arts. 
He can tell us, that in the future history of elocution, as it 

now is with song, the masters of its practice must always 

be masters of the science : that they will, with the confident 
aim of principles, address themselves to the elect of intelli- 
gence and taste, by whom their merits will be rated and their 
authority fixed. And if in making a fame or fortune by their 
voice, they should receive any assistance from this essay, I 
shall be contented to think it is some contribution to the mul- 



CONCLUSION. 407 

tiplied means, by which the works of art are made to be eter- 
nally delightful to mankind. 

Finally, I would recommend this analysis, and the practical 
inferences which have been drawn from it, to those who de- 
clare with contra-distinguishing ascription, that elocution can 
not be taught, but must be the work of genius alone. Such 
persons look upon the powers of the mind as a kind of sleight: 
the ways and means of which are unknown and immeasurable. 
But genius, as far as it appears from its works, is only an apti- 
tude for that deep, wide and exclusive attention which per- 
ceives and accomplishes more than is done without it ; and 
therefore is not altogether removed beyond the reach of rules: 
though in its course of instruction, genius is oftenest the pupil 
of itself. 

Let those who are deluded by this mystic notion of genius 
turn their eyes from impostors who can not define an attribute 
which they do not comprehend ; let them look to the, great 
Sachems of mankind, and learn from the real possessors of it, 
how much of its manner may be described. They will tell 
us that genius, in its high meaning, is always enthusiastic: — 
always characterized by passionate perseverance ; by the love 
of an object in its means as well as its end ; by that unshaken 
confidence in its own powers, which converts the evils of dis- 
couragement into the benefits of success ; which cares not to 
be alone, and is too much engrossed with its own truths to be 

disturbed by the opinions of others : with] a disentangling 

spirit, to see things as they might be ; and an economy of pur- 
pose, to execute them as they ought to be ; soaring above that 
musty policy which, in its wary tact of the expedient, would 
with a world-serving quietude preserve them always as they 

are : having the power to accomplish great and useful 

works, only because it wastes no time on small and selfish 
ones ; and passing a life of warfare in detecting the impostures 
and follies of its own age, that the next, like the consulted 
Oracle of Delphi, may pronounce it the chief in wisdom and 
in virtue. 



JBRIEF ANALYSIS 



OP 



SONG AND RECITATIVE 



When the phenomena of Speech, Song and Recitative, are 
regarded independently of verbal distinctions, they display a 
nearer resemblance than is discoverable by a general view of 
their effects and names. It is the duty of philosophy to look 
into the real existences of things ; to break down many of 
those lines of separation which the poor conveniences of 
classification have established ; to exhibit, as far as is availa- 
ble with finite resources, that clear and comprehensive pic- 
ture of nature which is surveyed, at once and always, by the 
infinite discernment of her author himself. 

To the common ear, speech and song are totally different. 
Let us examine their relationships by an analytic comparison 
of their several constituents. 

In taking up this subject, I have no new function to repre- 
sent. Song and Recitative are only certain combinations of 
the five accidents of sound which were minutely described in 
the preceding part of this volume. It is my design to point 
out the method of these combinations ; in order to complete 
the survey of vocal science, by showing the similarity between 
the phenomena of its three leading divisions. 
3B 



410 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

OF SONG. 

The art of Vocal Music has long been studiously cultivated: 
and although it has never yet received a strict elemental analy- 
sis, its professors have accumulated a mass of observation, and 
framed a body of principles for governing the great and bril- 
liant results of their practical execution. 

It is, at this time, beyond both my design and ability to 
offer any thing like a detailed consideration of the topic before 
us. The opportunities for inquiry on the subject of Song, as 
well as on that of all the Fine Arts, are too limited in this 
country, both as regards the higher discussions of taste and 
the eminent examples of executive skill, to furnish any pro- 
posed record, in that order and with that clearness and strength 
which always characterize a direct transcript from nature. It 
becomes the American, in knowing himself on these matters, 
to touch those points only, which the physiology of his own 
organs may furnish, and, in this day at least, to leave the full 
description of all that the singing voice can do, to the ample 
means of European experience and education. I propose to 
give only a general account of the functions of song ; leaving 
it to those whom it may professionally concern to make any 
practical application of the principles here developed, or to 
pass them by as a part of natural history that is more curious 
than useful. 

As song consists in certain combinations of the five acci- 
dents which were made the ground of arrangement in speech, 
1 shall give the proposed analysis under the same general 
heads : and first, 

Of the Pitch of Song. The movement of song has every 
direction and extent which was ascribed to speech, together 
with two forms of intonation, which do not belong to the latter. 

In illustrating the nature of the equable concrete 1 described 
the Protracted Vanish. When given as a single unimpassion- 
ed effort, it consists of a rapid concrete-rise through the inter- 
val of a tone, and a prolongation in one line of pitch at the 
summit of that tone. If the reader will allow me to designate 
these parts, by calling the rapid concrete-rise the Arsis, and 
the level line the Note, it will contribute to the brevity and 
perspicuity of our future description. 



A. BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 411 

When we rise by the protracted vanish, through the seven 
places of the musical scale, the movement is made according 
to the following notation of time and pitch : in which I sup- 
pose the succession to be on the staff of the bass-cliff. 



F^^ 



E±H= 



^^^ 






But song likewise employs the Protracted Radical, though 
perhaps less frequently than the vanish : for if I do not mis- 
take, the voice in its instinctive intonation, more readily falls 
into the protracted form of the latter. Not having however 
sufficiently examined this matter, I leave it for future inquirers. 
As far as regards the vocal effect or expression of these two 
forms of the protracted note, I can perceive no difference be- 
tween them : and should no better reason be found for a sing- 
er's choice in taking one or the other, I would suggest, that it 
may perhaps, in some cases, be decided by the nature of the 
elements on which it is executed. Thus the diphthongs 
* a-we,' ' «-h,' and ' ow-t,' have more volume and audible 
character, than their respective vanishes <e-rr' and 'oo-ze.' 
Hence we may understand why a singer, having reference to 
the impressive effect of a long-drawn note, would prefer em- 
ploying the protracted radical of these, and the like com- 
pounded elements. 

The following is the notation of the scale of the Protracted 
Radical. 






The time of the arsis in the foregoing scales, is here repre- 
sented by a semiquaver, and that of the note by a semibreve, 



412 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

two comparative terms in music which hold the proportion of 
one to sixteen. 

There may be a simple and a more complex structure of 
song : formed, as we shall see, respectively by the discrete 
and concrete movements of the voice. 

As the successions of pitch in the preceding scales, are made 
by a transition either to proximate or remote degrees, without 
the continuous slide from one degree to another, a vocal melo- 
dy founded on these scales, may be called Discrete-Song. 

In this kind of melody, the length of the note, when com- 
pared with the arsis, is different, according to the requisitions 
of time in the air to which it is sung. Its longest quantity 
may exceed the proportion represented in the above scales. 
Its shortest, changes the movements to an equable concrete, 
the voice becoming altogether arsis by the obliteration of the 
note. 

The foregoing is the most simple form of pitch. The next 
is that of an arsis of greater extent than a tone. In this way 
several different representations of the scale might be given, 
consisting respectively of the rapid rise of a third, of a fourth, 
fifth, and all other intervals with a protracted radical or vanish 
severally connected with them. Let the reader by the exam- 
ple of the above scales draw for himself a similar rising pro- 
gression with the arsis of a third, then another of the fourth, 
and so on through the whole compass of the voice : as in the 
following notation of the scale, where the arsis, with its pro- 
tracted vanish, is represented in all the intervals, from a sec- 
ond to a ninth. 




Now if we take this diagram, with the page inverted, we 
shall have the notation of a protracted radical with an issuing 
concrete of the several intervals of the scale. There are then 
two forms of the rising movement in song, one in which the 
arsis, or concrete of every interval, ascends from a protracted 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 413 

radical : and the other in which it rises to a protracted vanish. 
But song likewise employs the downward concrete in con- 
nexion with the protracted notes, and of these movements 
there are two forms. 

The first descends by the concrete, and terminates in the 
protracted note. The second, on the contrary begins with the 
protracted note, and then descends by the concrete : — as in the 
following illustration ; in which 1 have called this downward 
concrete The Thesis. 

First form of the Thesis. Second form of the Thesis. 



£—£=£ 




( <D 



Q Os On 



^ 



VJ 



-fe- 



*-^ 



Thus there are in song two forms of the Arsis, and two of the 
Thesis : arising out of the connexion of the concrete of every 
interval with the protracted notes : and what was remarked 
concerning the length of the note, in the scale of the second, 
may be said of all the others with their different intervals of 
the Arsis and Thesis, — that the proportion between the note 
and the concrete so varies that the former sometimes disappears 
altogether, and the movement, becomes like the equable con- 
crete of the rising and falling intervals of speech. 

Let us suppose this last form of the arsis and thesis, without 
the appendage of the note, to be united into one continuous 
movement. This produces in song the element called the 
Wave : and in as much as we have an arsis and thesis of every 
interval, so they may be combined into every form of the 
wave. 

There are also continued movements, in which the waves of 
every interval, whether direct or inverted, may begin with 
a protracted note or end with it ; or have it at both the ex- 
tremes. 

Song likewise employs the Tremulous scale upon the pro- 
tracted note, the arsis, thesis, and wave. 

As regards its pitch then, song may be classed under two di- 
visions, First : 



414 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

Discrete-Song, as we called the progression of a melody 
formed entirely of the protracted radical or vanish, with the 
arsis of a second or tone. Secondly, what we here call 

Concrete-Song,_consistingof a continuous movement through 
the wider intervals, both in an upward and downward direc- 
tion ; mingled with protracted notes, and the various forms of 
the wave. 

This is the proper place to consider the subject of articula- 
tion in song, since it is the management of pitch which secures 
the distinctness of this function. 

I showed that one of the requisites for accurate pronunciation 
in speech, is an equal apportionment of the concrete to the 
literal elements. The audibility of the words in song depends 
in part upon the same principle : for the peculiar nature of the 
protracted note of pitch does not alter the mode of syllabica- 
tion. The correct articulation of song however requires a 
further attention to the accentuation of words, and to their 
syllabic quantity. But the adjustment of these matters lies 
with the composer and the poet. 

Writers on vocal science have extensively treated this sub- 
ject: yet the same preceptive page which enjoins its import- 
ance, directs that the vowels should principally compose the 
strain of utterance. The vowel or tonic sounds have clearly 
the purest quality for song : but it is also certain, that a syllable 
is known only through the perception of its proper accent, and 
the allotted time of each of its elements. I have no more to 
say on this point than that the purposes in these cases seem to 
be at variance. It is the vocalist's duty to reconcile them, by 
making distinct articulation agreeable. 

These are the general functions of song as regards Pitch. 
The manner of using them, and their junction with other ac- 
cidents will be described hereafter.* 

* Upon a review of our analysis of the intonation of speech and song, it seemed 
to me that the effect of the discrete scale of the latter might be produced on some 
musical instruments. The publication of this essay rather before the contemplated 
period, prevented me from testing the practicability of some imagined contrivan- 
ces for this purpose. 

I had designed to connect a square organ-pipe with its finger key, by means of 
compound levers, so that the same touch which raises the wind-valve should, at a 
succeeding moment, raise a shutter on one side of the pipe at its open end; the 
object of this shutter being to cover an oblong aperture, reaching from the very 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 4 1 5 

Of the Time of Song. I consider this accident only in 
relation to the individual functions, and not to the general con- 
struction of melody, and its rythmus. 

Time is used in every degree of duration, on the note, on 
the arsis and thesis, and on the wave. When it is so short on 
these, as to exclude the note, the effect, as far as regards mere 
individual acts of intonation, does not differ from that of 
speech. 

Of the Quality of Voice in Song. The kind of sound is 
the same in song as in speech. But since the time of the for- 

end of the pipe, so far towards its sounding-lips, as to raise the pitch a tone or 
second when the shutter should be removed. 

Now this shutter having its centre of motion towards the sounding-lips, was 
to overlap the edges of the oblong vent: but the plug which was to shut into the 
vent, with a rebate, was to be wedge-shaped, with its sharp angle towards the 
end of the pipe ; so that as the shutter should be raised and consequently the 
wedge, as the under part of it, the vent would be gradually opened, and the 
intonation be thus made to ascend with a concrete movement. When the shutter 
should be entirely opened, the long note then produced, immediately following the 
concrete, might give the instrumental execution of the protracted radical. 

In the transitions of melody with such a contrivance, it would be necessary 
that the valve in the wind-chest should be made to close before the shutter, other- 
wise the gradual descent of it, would make a falling concrete or thesis, on every 
note. 

I have thus suggested the principle on which an experiment may be tried by 
those who have ability, time and convenience for such works: and there are 
other ways which persons of mechanical cleverness may contrive, for producing 
the concrete movement on a sounding-pipe either of metal or wood. 

I am not altogether convinced that this mode of mechanism might not be con- 
nected with the vox-humana stop of an organ, or even the ventages of a bassoon. 
If this is practicable, it may give to instruments a little more of the character of 
the singing voice than they at present possess. 

I can not say how much further the principle might be applied, for adding the 
wider ranges of the concrete, by a vent of greater dimensions in the pipe. The 
mechanism even for the Second would not be simple, and the management of 
more than one concrete-key, if I may so call it, might be beyond the dexterity of 
the player. What could be done on barrel-organs, machinists can best tell. 

Automaton Figures have been made to speak, as it is called; but it is in a pro- 
tracted note which produces song. Would not the imitation of speech be nearer, 
if the sound were by its instrumental cause, formed into the equable concrete ■? 

On the whole, I shall be sorry if any one should lose his labour by a vain 
working at this problem. It is not the odd ends of time that ever did any thing 
well: and if the schemer should be disposed to devote one useful day to the 
hazards of mechanical ingenuity, in such matters as I have here proposed, let 
him take, at the same time from me, the words of caution. 



416 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

mer is generally longer and consists of the protracted vocality 
of the tonics, it renders the quality more conspicuous, and 
subjects it to more rigorous scrutiny. There are harsh, full, 
slender and nasal voices, and that which is called in the lan- 
guage of the schools, Pure Tone. This subject is howeyer so 
well known in the practical discriminations of singers, that it 
needs no further consideration here. 

There is a curious subject of physiological inquiry, con- 
nected equally with song and speech, but which I have reserved 
for this place. 

It is known that with a few trials, all the tonic and most of 
the other elements may be made individually by the act of 
Inspiration. The quality is indeed strangely altered from the 
customary mode of the speaker, but the characteristic sound is 
complete. It would seem then that the vocal functions are 
equally practicable both in the ebb and flow of respiration : 
but for some wise purpose, the former has been universally 
appointed to carry out the continued current of speech. Now 
the cause of inspiration admiting only of a single word, or at 
most three or four, is like that which creates the difficulty with 

infants, upon their first essays in expired speech. We have 

not the Holding-breath, as I presumed to call it, and therefore 
the act of inspiration immediately fills the lungs, reversely as 
the Exhausting breath drains them, and thus cuts off the course 
of speech. 

The question I here put is, — whether by a practice as long 
and assiduous as that which gives a command over the time of 
expiration, the same holding breath might not be attained in 
inspiration ; and, should the quality of this entering voice, if 

1 may so call it, be improvable, whether it might not be 

employed in the purposes of singing, to aid in sustaining the 
voice indefinitely ; and for insuring a continuous intonation in 
the higher intricacies of execution. It is certain that this 
power has been attained in whistling, both as regards the 
quality of shrillness, and the accuracy of tune : and though in 
this case, the management of the holding-breath of expira- 
tion, far surpasses that of inspiration, still, the pauses for in- 
haling may be rendered almost imperceptible, through the con- 
trolling power that does exist. 

Of Force of Voice in Song. This accident has reference 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 417 

either to the general drift of the voice, or to its individual 
movements. 1 shall consider it only in the latter relation. 

All the modes of stress formerly ascribed to speech are found 
in song. This is true not only as regards the equable concrete, 
which I said is sometimes used in the short impulses of the 
singing voice: but the radical, the median, and the vanishing 
forms of force are applied upon the proper arsis and thesis, 
when connected with a protracted note, and upon every course 
and extent of the wave. 

The full and abrupt radical being always preceded by an oc- 
clusion, it may have a place at the outset of all the forms of 
the arsis, and thesis, and of the protracted radical, when it is 
found in song, or at the opening of the note which is repre- 
sented in the scheme of the second form of the thesis. That 
note which is continuous with the rising or falling concrete 
can not receive this mode of force. 

The greater duration of time which may be allotted to the 
upward and downward concrete, and the protracted notes, be- 
yond what is allowable in speech, gives rise to a modification 
of the median stress or swell which does not belong to the 
syllabic concrete of discourse : for two or three of these swells 
may be set on the same note ; that is, the force may diminish 
and revive alternately. The median stress may also in a pro- 
tracted quantity, exhibit a structure resembling the radical and 
the vanish, by suddenly enlarging and gradually diminishing, 
and by the reverse. 

The vanishing stress is principally set on the equable con- 
crete, which makes the short syllabic intonation of comic 
songs. 

But the most striking function of force consists in the use of 
the compound stress. 

1 have just shown that the voice passes through every in- 
terval of pitch, both in the arsis and thesis, and their union in 
the wave. This is done by a gliding movement, similar to 
the proper concrete of speech. But the transition may be 
otherwise made, by a rapid flight through the scale, in which 
its proximate places are distinctly marked. This, in the lan- 
guage of the school, is called 'running the gammut' or 'run- 
ning; divisions.' It is one of the most difficult executions of 
the art, and is never done with precision, speed, and clear ar- 
3C 



418 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

ticulation, except by the persons of the highest skill. The 
description of this process will show the nature of the Trill or 
Shake, for this, and the movement called a Division, are but 
varied applications of the same physiological function. 

The shake is a rapid iteration of two impulses of sound at 
the distance of a tone or semitone : or in other words, it is an 
alternation of proximate degrees on the diatonic scale. I have 
shown that every vocal effort consists of a radical and vanish ; 
consequently when two successive impulses occur on the same 
or on different degrees of pitch, each must exhibit these essen- 
tial portions of the concrete ; but as the radical is the abrupt 
opening of the voice after an occlusion, there must be a pause 
of a moment at least between these two impulses or concretes. 

The shake being a rapid iteration of sounds, without a percep- 
tible interruption, can not be made upon a series of impulses, 
each of which has its radical and vanish : for if the reader 
will try to execute a trill on the dipthong ' a-le,' he will find 
he can not be sufficiently rapid when he makes the first sound 
of ' a-le' the beginning of the several successive impulses. 

The only mode in which this rapid alternation can be ef- 
fected, is by the compound stress. For should the top of the 
concrete be enforced to an equality with the radical portion, 
two impressive sounds at the distance of a tone or semitone 
will be produced ; there will be a smooth transition from one 
to the other, and immediately after each of the vanishing con- 
stituents of the shake, the radical will be ready to take on its 
function ; and thus to attain that velocity which is impractica- 
ble when the impression is made by the stress of successive 
radicals alone. If the reader will perform a trill on the ele- 
ment ' a-le,' he will perceive an iteration of the radical ' a' 
and the vanish 'e' of this diphthongal tonic. 

Thus the shake is only a rapid execution of the compound 
stress of speech, upon a continued phrase of the monotone : 
and it is the manner in which the two stresses are joined by 
the concrete, that produces the smoothness or ' liquidity,' as 
it is called, of this vocal ornament. 

As the compound stress was shown to be practicable on 
V every interval of speech, so a shake in song might be com- 

posed of a rapid iteration of the compound stress, between 
other points of the scale : and indeed such movements are 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 419 

sometimes heard in the tricks of the Florid Song ; but they 
are not technically classed with the trill, for this is restricted 
to the order of proximate degrees. 

Let us now suppose the singer to pass upward or downward 
through the eight notes of the gammut, in the most rapid man- 
ner. All that was said of the alternate impulses in the shake, 
is true of this case : for when each of the eight points of the 
scale is marked by a proper radical, the same momentary de- 
lay from the occlusion must take place. Thus let the reader 
pass over several degrees, by giving the radical of the diph- 
thong ' a-le' on each point, and he will find it difficult to run 
through the scale with rapidity if he does not employ the 
tremor. But when he utters the two constituents of the diph- 
thong alternately, the 'a' and 'e' will be heard in quick tran- 
sition through its proximate places. 

Thus it appears that what are called 'Divisions' in song, are 
only the compound stress of the concrete, or an alternate ra- 
dical and vanish, in the rising or falling succession of the scale. 

There are various modes in which these divisions may be 
run ; for the whole octave may be passed through in one con- 
tinued chain of upward or downward movement ; or the pro- 
gress may be less extensive ; or it may be made by groups of 
two or three or four impulses with a pause between the ag- 
gregates. In short, the compass may be traversed in number- 
less ways, by the tune and time and mode of succession of this 
function. Sometimes a division is made by the proximate 
step of a semitone : but whatever the movements may be, 
they are all performed on the principle of the compound stress. 

I asked myself in the course of this investigation, and I dare 
say the reader will make the inquiry — how it happens that the 
mode of execution by the compound stress, avoids the diffi- 
culty of that occlusion which prevents a rapid shake from 
being formed by successive radicals. I am not able to answer 
this question : and can only offer the following conjectures, 
which I beg the reader to take as such, without classing them 
with that certainty of observation which has been the rule of 
philosophy in this work. 

It is possible that the organic cause of intonation is so con- 
stituted, that the radical must necessarily be followed by the 
vanish, before the structure can assume the position for another 



420 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

radical. If then a stress, equal to that of the radical, can be 
made on the vanish, the purpose of the shake is gained with- 
out incurring a loss of time by the natural vanish ; and the 
organs will be ready to take on an occlusion for a new radical 
at the moment of the expiration of the vanishing stress. 

We may suppose the shake to be made in another way, — 
by the voice traversing in a Continued wave between the ex- 
tremes of a tone, and by a sudden swell of force at those ex- 
tremes. 

I need scarcely tell the reader that the proper trill is not 
made like the iterated Tittles of the tremulous scale. 

Of the Modes of Melody in Song. Having described the 
forms of pitch, time and stress, we may now take a general 
view of their combinations. 

The structure of melody exhibits every variety in the num- 
ber of its constituents, and in their interchangeable union, 
from the use of the protracted note with the almost imper- 
ceptible arsis of a second, which we call the Discrete-song, to 
that utmost employment of the concrete pitch, and the com- 
pound stress which constitutes the ' airs of agility' or i florid 
execution.' 1 have indeed made a distinction between these 
modes of movement ; but this serves merely to mark the ex- 
tremes of a varied process, since song is scarcely ever heard in 
the rigidly discrete form, and when once the concrete move- 
ment of higher intervals than the second is admitted, no definite 
line of separation can be drawn between the execution of this 
still simple condition, and its more complicated structure. 

In general terms then, and without pretending to describe 
the confines of each, I would call the Discrete-melody that 
which moves by proximate' degrees and by skips, under that 
form of intonation which is represented by the two first scales 
of the protracted radical and vanish : and showing occasion- 
ally, because it can scarcely be avoided, a concrete junction 
of some of the wider intervals by the arsis and thesis. This 
is the mode of song used by the Church, when the choir is 
conducted by the congregation. It is suited to the general 
ability of the whole, and resembles the mere instrumental ef- 
fect of the organ which accompanies it. 

I would call the Concrete-melody, that disposition of the 
note, together with its varied connexion with the arsis and. 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 421 

thesis and the compound stress, which constitutes within due 
bounds of combination, the expressive powers of song ; and in 
its higher condition, the extraordinary but unmeaning flights 
of the most elaborate composition. 

Of the Expression of Song. Expression in song is the 
power of exciting certain intense feelings by means of the 
pitch, time, force, quality and abruptness of sound. 

It appears from this definition that the materials of expres- 
sion in song are the same as those of speech : though some 
difference will be found in the special employment of them in 
the two cases. The Italians, who have taught us almost every 
thing in music, have divided their song according to the style 
of its execution ; the places in which it is displayed ; and the 
sentiments it expresses. I am only hinting at an arrangement 
upon the points of its rudimental functions. 

In a general view of the subject of expression, we find that 
the dignity of Song is produced by the same fulness in quality, 
length of time, and gravity in pitch, which give an elevated 
and solemn character to reading. There can be no grandeur 
in that melody which employs the reverse of these conditions. 

The gay efforts of song, on the contrary, like the sprightly 
method of discourse, are made by a sharper quality ; a quicker 
time ; a higher course of pitch, and a greater variety in its 
successions. The Aria Buffa or the Comic Song, generally 
consists of such short quantities, that most of its syllabic im- 
pulses are made in the true equable concrete of speech. In- 
dependently of its measure, the only reason why in some cases 
we know it to be song, is because the concrete and the radical 
pitch consist of wider intervals than belong to the current of 
speech. 

The plaintive effect of the semitone, and the minor third, 
which is only a peculiar position of the semitone, is similar to 
the chromatic character of spoken melody. Perhaps we 
ought to consider the expression of the cadence as identical in 
these two uses of the voice ; since the return to the key-note, 
which is constantly occurring in song, does, like the intona- 
tion at the periods of discourse, produce the agreeable feeling 
of repose and satisfaction. 

Let us take another view of this subject ; and speak of the 
different kinds of melody. 



422 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

The Discrete-song is not without expression, though it falls 
short of the kind which arises from a judicious use of the high- 
er elements. Its sources lie in quality, tune, time, and stress. 

There is something in the mere sound of a prolonged note, 
which may give a peculiar character to song. Fulness produ- 
ces solemnity ; smoothness excites the idea of beauty ; and in 
the higher efforts of the comic song, the distorted variations 
of quality give rise to a sense of the gay or ridiculous. As 
regards quality, the principles of expression are similar in 
speech and song : but perhaps the kind of voice is more pal- 
pable in tire latter. 

The expression of Tune consists in the transition through 
certain intervals. The discrete-melody can therefore display 
the plaintiveness of the semitone and the minor third, and the 
more energetic effect of the other intervals of the scale. 

The plain song may, by its Time, be either grave or gay. 
It appears that song is more agreeable than the short syllabic 
impulses of speech, though they may each have the same or- 
der of pitch. I am disposed to think this arises from an asso- 
ciation of the notes of song with the effect of long quantity 
in speech : for this is always the sign of some strong or digni- 
fied emotion. 

The radical and the median stress are applicable to the pro- 
tracted note of the discrete-melody : but it is the varied mode 
of the swell in the latter which constitutes the principal means 
of expression. 

Some of the more moderate forms of the wave may be ad- 
mitted into what I have called, without assigning a very defi- 
nite boundary of its nature, the discrete-song. 

From some very general descriptions and some known par- 
ticulars of the Greek song, it might be inferred that its melody 
was of this discrete class ; enriched with all the forms of ex- 
pression which are admissible into its structure. 



* 



* I once contemplated subjoining to this essay, a discussion of the subject of 
Greek Accent. But I hope I have now sufficiently displayed the emptiness of 
its pretensions, by the full light of modern analysis. The noise of national repu- 
tation, like that of individual vanity, may serve the purposes of those who make 
it. One can however see about him every day, enough of the boast of empires 
and of men, to make him scrutinize the rolls of fame which were blazoned by the 
same genas of credulity, two thousand years ago. 

I know all the stories about barbarian ambassadors being delighted with the 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 423 

The character of the Concrete-song appears in various de- 
grees, from the limits of the style last described, to that in- 
tricate composition of the vocal elements which defeats their 
purposes, by an annihilation of all meaning and sentiment. 

The expression of this melody includes all those effects, 
enumerated in the account of the Discrete : with the addition 
of more extended and delicate means. The further employ- 
ment of the radical and median force on the arsis and thesis, 
as well as on the wave, adds a brilliant variety to the effect. 
We have in the Bravuras and Volatas of this kind of song, all 
the extraordinary coloring of the compound stress, in the pro- 
duction of the shake, and the almost infinite forms that Di- 
visions assume in their play with time and pitch. It likewise 
commands those powers of expression which are derived from 
the Tremulous scale, both through the plaintiveness of the 
semitone, and the laughing movement of wider intervals. 

As song employs the elements of speech in its composition, 
one would suppose that certain movements must have in each 
case an identical expression. But it is not always so. I have 

mere music of a language which they did not understand : and of that universal 
acuteness and ' proud judgment of the ear,' which made the Athenian herb- 
women and porters speak with all the purity of the Academy. But I must have 
other proof than the report of Greek historians; and I must find them writing 
with more fulness and precision, on a subject they are said to have understood so 
well, before I can believe that in this matter they were at all superior to ourselves. 

If I were even disposed to believe in the vocal perfection of the Greeks, through 
any other testimony than their own, I should be compelled to question the authority 
of their Roman eulogists: since they themselves, the pupils of the Greeks, dis- 
play no better analysis or system in their institute of elocution. We may fairly 
estimate their discrimination, when we know, that with the same pen which deals 
out the extravagancies of praise upon the oratorical action of their masters, they 
gravely give us, as a proof too of their own nicety in vocal matters, the story of 
one of their famous orators having occasion for a Pitch-pipe; to enable him to 
recognize his own voice, and to govern his melody, through the more acute per- 
ceptions of a slave, who now and then blew the little horn at his elbow. 

Should I be obliged to hold an opinion upon the subject of ancient accent, 

the fixed appropriation of its acute, grave, and circumflex signs to syllables, being 
utterly inconsistent with a proper or elegant system of intonation, would induce 
me to believe, that the Greeks and Romans did always mean stress, by their idea 
of the accentual function; but that they had connected with it a crude theory of 
pitch, formed perhaps out of some fragments of Egyptian science, which they 
themselves did not thoroughly understand. 



424 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 

enumerated some functions that represent the same sentiments 
in both. There are, however, many forms of intonation 
which lose their meaning and force when transferred to song. 
In treating of the vocal signs of the passions, we learned that 
their design is not only modified by the descriptive agency of 
words, but in some instances is purely dependent upon it. 
I endeavoured to illustrate this by reference to the voices of 
birds : but song affords a more satisfactory proof. For since 
its more elaborate structure does employ all the forms of con- 
crete and radical pitch, together with the wave, which make 
the expression of speech, we ought, during the varied course 
of its melody, to be constantly recognizing the vocal signs of 
interrogation, surprise, positiveness, sneer, contempt, and 
raillery: whereas the song which makes the freest use of these 
symbols never conveys the above named sentiments, except 
it is joined to language. 

Song is, nevertheless, powerfully expressive ; and it is so 
by the use of these very concretes, and quantities, and waves, 
and abrupt and swelling stresses, which give the sentimental 
meaning to speech. Any person who is in the habit of enjoy- 
ing the display of song, will say that the emotions created by 
it are so far indefinite, that he is not able to refer them to any 
other source than that of general association, nor to reduce the 
signs of expression to such classes as have long been perceived 
in speech, though they have never been formally named. 

Upon this subject, I would ask two questions. Has song 

a system of expression properly its own, and does our inde- 
finite perception of its points, arise from this system never 
having been analyzed and rendered familiar and specific by 
names? Or does the expression of song depend on an as- 
sociation between the elements used by it, and those of speech ; 
the former assuming the agreeable effect of the latter, without 
their definite meaning ? 

We are now prepared to sum up the differences between 
song and speech. 

The Discrete-melody, though the least removed from speech, 
is still remarkably distinguished from it by the effect of the 
protracted note, and by the more frequent occurrence of wider 
transitions in the radical change. 

In the most complicated form of Concrete-song, for I thus 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SONG. 425 

choose the extreme cases, the difference consists in the sort, 
number, and uses of its movements. The range of its melo- 
dial compass exceeds that of speech. The compound stress, 
in the form of the shake, and in the rapid run of divisions, is 
the most frequent constituent of airs of agility ; but is never 
used in quick time by the speaking voice. The only function 
common to both is the equable concrete, which is sometimes 
set to the short syllables of song; though it is not then recog- 
nized as a feature of speech. The wider waves, too, are occa- 
sionally used for emphasis in discourse : but the combination 
of the arsis and thesis, into this movement, occurs perpetually 
in the florid song. 

We are now able to comprehend, why persons who sing 
with the greatest execution are rarely or never good readers. 
One cause may be assigned in the difference of the respective 
movements ; particularly the want of the full command over the 
equable concrete in all its modes of time, by singers, since they 
rarely employ it except for the short quantities of the comic 
song. But the principal reason why those who are distin- 
guished for vocal flexibility, in elaborate composition, are 
generally very indifferent actors, is, because this intricate exe- 
cution is always made with a sacrifice of expression. I have 
shown that on some points, the expression of song and speech 
is identical ; and that even when the former does not convey 
the special sentiments of speech, by the uses of its intonations, 
still it has a meaning of its own, however indefinite it may be. 
But the practice of the bravura song, with some rare excep- 
tions, exhibits a total disregard of the instinctive intonation of 
passion. In it, long and short quantities, the radical ex- 
plosion and the median swell, the diatonic succession and 

the chromatic, the plaintive and the laughing tremor, 

the various forms of the wave, concrete transitions 'and 

discrete skips, from the deepest bass to the piercing falsette, 
are made to play with each other in every mode of permuta- 
tion. In short, as the voice, like the throat of the mocking- 
bird, mingles all its possibilities, without regard to design, 
the singer thereby confuses that natural association between 
sentiment and symbol, which good speaking always requires, 
and which should also be the characteristic of song. If I had 
the opportunities of European experience, I might speak with 
3D 



426 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF RECITATIVE. 

more universality and precision, but, as far as 1 have observed, 
singers who excel in the florid execution, are not often gifted 
with nicety or comprehensiveness of conception, nor with that 
sensibility which is apt to accompany or to constitute a delicate 
organization of ear. For the temperament of a singer can as 
readily be perceived, in his peculiar management of time, 
stress, and intonation, as the mind and feeling of a writer can 
be gathered from his style. 

A musical ear is only the exercise of attentive observation 
by this sense : and though I am convinced that the most fin- 
ished powers of elocution must always be grounded on the 
discrimination which it implies ; I am no less under a belief, 
that training the ear to that degree and kind of perception, 
which accompanies the present exalted powers of vocal execu- 
tion, must destroy its natural association with the proper ex- 
pression of speech. There have been renowned actors, such, 
I mean, as have reached the philosophy, and the philosophized 

passion of the higher drama, who have been skilled in the 

discrete-song, and to a degree in the concrete: and whilst I 
believe that, with the proper discipline of the school, they 
could have attained all the flexibility of the florid execution, I 
have very little doubt that if such a power had been much 
exerted, it would have destroyed all that command over the 
equable concrete, which made them the full organ of the tragic 
poet. Mrs. Siddons might perhaps have joined voice with 
the incomparable Mara, in the expressive songs of Handel or 
Mozart, without impairing her power over Shakspeare. But 
she would have been lost forever to all the mind and soul of 
speech, had she been trained with Catalani, to that wonderful 
facility which was able to outstrip even the fashion-serving 
contrivances of the composers of the day. 



OF RECITATIVE. 

The term Recitative is applied to a mode of intonation 
which is used in certain dramatic and vocal compositions. It 
had its name from being appropriated to narrative or recital, 
in contradistinction to the mode of intonation in song which 
was considered as adapted to the language of sentiment or 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF RECITATIVE. 427 

passion. Recitative is however employed at present in the 
Italian Opera, as the means of expression, as well as for the 
common purposes of the dialogue. ^ 

Nothing has puzzled musical logicians more than the attempt 
to define this term. 

Rousseau, in his dictionary, speaks of it thus : — 'Recitative. 
A discourse recited in a musical and harmonious tone. It is a 
method of singing which approaches nearly to speech, a decla- 
mation in music, in which the musician should imitate as much 
as possible, the inflexions of the declaiming voice.' 

Busby attempts to explain it thus : — ' Recitative. A species 
of musical recitation, forming the medium between air and 
rhetorical declamation, and in which the composer and per- 
former rejecting the rigorous rules of time, endeavours to 
imitate the inflexions, accent, and emphasis, of natural 
speech.' 

One calls 'Recitative — a kind of singing that differs but little 
from ordinary pronunciation.' 

Another says, — 'Recitative is speech delivered through the 
medium of musical intonation.' 

Whilst others, still more general, describe it as 'singing 

speech,' and 'speaking song.' 

Before we know what we require in knowledge, we never 
perceive how little satisfies us : and perhaps it is here first 

shown, that all these words, though written to instruct, 

contain no further explanation, than might be given by the 
humblest auditor at an oratorio. By the terms of all these de- 
finitions, Recitative is somehow made up of speech and song. 
Now the elementary movements of song had, in a degree, been 
known and described ; and therefore the meaning of its term 
in the definition, might not have been incomprehensible, if 
vocalists had ever thought of showing its nature and influence 
in the compound. But, as regards the knowledge of speech, 
on which these definitions are constructed, let us hear Rousseau, 
under the very article we have quoted above. ' The inflections 
of the speaking voice' says he, ' are not bounded by musical 
intervals. They are uncontrolled, and impossible to be de- 
termined. ' 

An understanding therefore of the nature of Recitative, 



428 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF RECITATIVE. 

through the nature of its mingled or interwoven constituents, 
song and speech, the latter of which was thus declared to be 
utterly inappreciable, must have required some other powers 
of comprehension than we at present possess. For having no 
perception of the characteristics of one of the constituents, 
the idea of Recitative must have been, if I may be allowed to 
jest, not unlike that of our personal acquaintance with the 
heads of a family, the father of which is married to an invisi- 
ble woman. 

In general definition, Speech, Song and Recitative, are 

varied modes of intonation, deriving their specific differences 
from the kind and combination of their vocal elements. Ha- 
ving described the melodial peculiarities of speech and song, I 
shall, by the same light of analysis, endeavour to point out the 
characteristic intonation of Recitative. 

The plainest form of what is called Recitative, for its form 
varies, is at once distinguishable from speech and song, by the 
following mode of its construction. 

First. It has no symmetrical rythmus or musical measure 
in the progression of its melody. 

Secondly. It employs the protracted radical and vanish, and 
the wave, on its long quantities, and occasionally the equable 
concrete on short ones. 

Thirdly- Its melodial intervals, or the discrete movements 
of its radical pitch, are of all dimensions, both in upward and 
downward transition. 

Fourthly. It employs the means of time, force and quality 
of voice. 

These are the simple elements, constituting Plain Recitative : 
and the following are some of the principles of their appli- 
cation. 

The melodial progress consists of a succession of phrases of 
the monotone, and of every interval, even to the rising and 
falling octave : and these are so disposed, as to effect a con- 
tinued variety. Thus its melody exhibits no systematic dis- 
tinction between a diatonic ground-work, and the emphasis of 
higher intervals, such as gives effective power and dignity to 
speech : the successions of pitch being rather according to the 
promiscuous mingling of song. I have not been able to recog- 



A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF RECITATIVE. 429 

nize, in what is called unaccompanied recitative, any application 
of the doctrine of key ; its melodial relationships having in this 
respect the characteristic of speech. The full pauses are made 
by phrases of every form, from the monotone, to the rising 
and falling discrete octave : the current melody, and the pausal 
phrases consisting, for the most part, of the protracted radical 
or vanish, with an occasional rising and falling concrete and 
wave. 

Such being the structure of Recitative, it is conclusive, that 
the power of expression must fall far below that of speech. 
Making the inflexions of the speaking voice, which it pretends 
to borrow, the measure of this power, the only forms of ex- 
pression I have been able to perceive, in the plain mode of 
Recitative above described, are included under the following 
heads : 

First. The expression of slow or rapid utterance, and of 
long and short quantity. 

Secondly. That of the degrees of force, both as to empha- 
sis and drift. 

Thirdly. That of quality, particularly of guttural empha- 
sis and aspiration. 

Fourthly. That of intonation, by the employment of the 
discrete rising fifth or octave for inquiry ; of the downward 
skip for positive or imperative declaration ; and of the wave 
of the semitone and minor third for plaintiveness. But even 
these do not seem to be so applied, according to invariable 
rule ; for I have heard true interrogative phrases and declara- 
tive questions, intonated with a simple monotone, or ditone, or 
downward fifth or octave ; and forcible imperatives, with the 
widest ascending intervals. 

The form of Recitative, of which I have been treating, would 
be heard by the common ear, as something distinct from both 
speech and song : and the above enumeration of its elements, 
must convince us, that not having the whole of the constitu- 
ents of either, it must be different from both. But as we now 
have an analytic perception of the respective structures of them 
all, we can see what is common to the three, and what pecu- 
liar to each. We perceive too, that one can not assume the 
character of another, without dropping itself, and becoming 



430 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OP RECITATIVE. 

that other : and that those definitions Which set forth Recita- 
tive, as a musical intonation of speech, or an engrafting of the 
inflexions of speech on song, are no more than absurdities. 
We can further see, that as it is made up of the elements 
of song and speech, the characters of one or the other may pre- 
dominate according to the prevalent use of their respective 
elements. And so it happens with dramatic composition, that 
the singer often changes the mode of the above described plain 
Recitative, to that of florid execution, by freely introducing 
the constituents of song. Hence instead of the plain melody, 
constructed of the few elements above mentioned, he intro- 
duces, in a greater or less degree, the arsis and thesis in all 
their forms, divisions of every variety, tremors, shakes, notes 
and waves : in short, whilst employing these elements, under a 
barred and rythmic time — he does, in effect, produce the full 
characteristic of song itself. 

In regarding then these three modes of intonation, it ap- 
pears that Speech and Song, both by construction and ef- 
fect, are most unlike each other : that Recitative, even of 

the plainest sort, by construction more nearly resembles song, 

and in the execution of vocalists, most readily runs into it : 

that speech has the most extended and delicate powers of ex- 
pression ; because there is in it, a union of sentimental lan- 
guage with its instinctive intonation, and a perfect adaptation 

of one to the other : that song exclusively of words, and 

with its music alone, has the means of exciting feelings of 
grandeur, pathos, gaiety and grace, by the force, quality, 

quantity, and intonation of the voice : and that Recitative, 

which, by one of the not unfrequent delusions of perception, 
was originally introduced, and has since been continued for 
centuries, as carrying the double agency of vocal and oratorical 
expression, does, by this vain design to effect a combination of 
incompatible functions, really destroy the peculiar and delight- 
ful essence of each. 

We owe the modern creation or revival of Recitative, in 
part, to the mystic influence of that vampire of classic authori- 
ty, which whilst fanning us into a self-glorifying stupefaction, 
has for ages been drawing out the life blood of our intellectual 
independence. The ignorance of the Greeks, upon the ana- 



CONCLUSION. 431 

lysis of the vocal functions, obliged them to describe their 
limited perceptions, by loose explanation and indefinite me- 
taphor ; whilst the moderns have been contented, in this as 
in other of their arts, to take a record of the poverty of 
their analytic knowledge, as the historic scraps of their 
perfection. The learned world has teased itself into despair, 
by attempts to discover, wherein consisted the inimitable 
charm of Greek poetical recitation ; and to reduce to pal- 
pable illustration the extraordinary formal causes of that 
' melodious language,' which when writers on the human 
voice shall fully understand their subject, they will admit to 
be very little more melodious than their own. l Among the 
.Greeks,' says Rousseau, and he may well speak for the rest in 

this matter, ' among the Greeks, all their poetry was in 

recitative.' And again : ' The Greeks could sing in speaking, 
but among us, we must either sing or speak ; we can not do 
both at the same time.' With such a mystical and distracting 
physiology as is here set forth, no wonder that worship- 
pers of the inexplicable power and perfection of antiquity, 

should have raised up altars to this 'Unknown God.' 

Nor that Pulci the poet, in reciting his Morgante Margiore, 
as we are told, at the table of Lorenzo de' Medici, should have 
imagined himself to be the happy instrument of a needed 
revelation, of the method of Grecian dramatic-recitative, or 
of Homer's declamatory song. 



Here I conclude the cursory view of the physiological func- 
tions of song and recitative : having avoided therein, every 
thing like a practical consideration of the subject. Some one 
better qualified than myself may be disposed to prosecute the 
inquiry. In the first part of this work, I have set forth the 
nature of expression in Speech, by an elementary description, 
and detailed illustration of its particular forms. An investi- 
gation of the nature of expression in Song and Recitative, by 
the light of that analysis, and according to the hints here 
thrown out, would be interesting, and might be successful. 
Nothing could give me more pleasure than to assist in its de- 
velopment. But this would lead me from some other designs 



432 CONCLUSION. 

of duty ; and I have too impatient a perception of the wasted 
experience, and profitless logic, which daily present them- 
selves in the changeful errors of my profession, — not to de- 
sire to use in its service, a method of philosophy which 1 hope 
will be found to have been effectual here. 

For reasons that are known to more than to myself, but 
which the public need not at present know, I laid aside a 
Practical work on Medicine, with the view of completing 
this : and I am now going to resume it. 



THE END. 



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